Hang on, what's going on here?
Oh, this is just BMW setting a new Guinness World Record for the longest sustained drift in a car. Using a new M5, BMW driving instructor Johan Schwarz took back the record he set in 2012, and broke the existing record by a colossal 143 miles, setting a new record of 232.5 miles.
Wow, that's quite some going, but how did they.... OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING??!?!?!?
Ah, yes, I thought you'd notice that.
THERE'S ANOTHER DRIFTING M5 AND SOMEONE'S HANGING OUT THE WINDOW!!!
Yes, that's Matt Butts, he's controlling the refuelling rig.
Hang on. Come again?
The refuelling rig. The M5 doesn't have a big enough fuel tank to allow it to drift for the eight hours needed to set the record, so BMW decided to design, with the help of automotive fabricators Detroit Speed, a car-to-car refuelling rig.
But... there are two cars, both drifting, and one is refuelling the other, like jets in mid-air.
Yes. Yes, you're really seeing that. It is real. It did happen.
Wibble.
Quite. In fact, BMW took two records on the day, at the BMW Performance Centre in Greer, South Carolina. One for the longest drift, and one for the longest twin drift of two cars together, which now stands at 49.2-miles, or 79.3km and is jointly held by Schwarz and BMW Performance Centre Chief Driving Instructor Matt Mullins, who drove the second M5.
"We knew going-in that if we were going to recapture the world record for longest sustained drift and set the bar as high as possible, we would need to find a way to keep the M5 going without stopping to refuel," said Schwartz. "In the end, the refuelling system worked flawlessly and the M5 performed as expected. It was a big win all around."
"Although we practiced the refuelling several times before the Guinness World Records title attempt, there was very little margin for error," said Butts. "We're excited to have played a part in Johan and BMW recapturing this record."
But... but... car-to-car refuelling.
Yes. It's awesome, isn't it?
Neil Briscoe - 10 Jan 2018