Mercedes are going after the world drifting record
Mercedes and driver Mauro Calo are planning to break the world drifting record at the Brooklands track at MB World this weekend.
I can’t say we actually knew that there was a world record for drifting a car. But there is. And Mercedes – and driver Mauro Calo – hope it will be theirs after this weekend.
You might not have heard of Mauro Calo, but he is a driver of some skill, particularly when it comes to the showier stuff. He’s a driving specialist for Mercedes-Benz and organises events at MB World.
He also founded the Mercedes Silver Arrows Stunt Display Team and has driven for everyone from Top Gear to Evo. He even runs a business providing drivers for car makers events (Automotive Exposure – we may as well give him a plug). So he knows his way round a car going sideways.
Mauro will be driving a Mercedes – either an E63 or C63 – round the narrow Brooklands track at MB World in Surrey this weekend, and is attempting to go sideways for 10,000ft (which is almost 2 miles) to break the existing record of 8,000ft.
He’s got the right car to go and play, because anything with the 6.2 litre Mercedes V8 goes sideways as soon as you hit the throttle when you have the electro-nannies turned off. But the Brooklands track is narrow, and unless Mercedes are going to flood the track there’s a chance the tyres won’t last.
Still, a bit of fun and a publicity – for Mauro, Mercedes and MB World. And just so you have some diea of what’s being attempted we’ve put a video of an E63 drifting round the Brooklands track below. It wasn’t for a constant 12 laps – which is what 10,000ft is at Brooklands – but it’ll give you a good idea what Mauro is trying to achieve.
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