Autoblog

The donut is one of the more worthless automotive exercises on the planet, but for some reason doing them gives us undeniable joy. One gentleman in the UK has perfected the donut to the point that of world record status. Russ Swift is already famous for automotive feats like the fastest-ever J-turn and the Guinness record for tightest parallel park. Now Swift has added the fastest time to complete ten donuts. Hit the jump to view Swift complete ten 360-degree turns in an Evo over a mere 16.07 seconds. As an added bonus, the folks at Guinness also added video of Mr. Swift's other record-setting automotive feats, which may be cooler than the donut record itself.

[Source: Zercustoms]

The VW Jetta TDI has proven to be quite popular in the short time it's been on sale here in the U.S.: it has put sales of the Tiguan in the cooler and the ones that are available are very hard to get. Now the fairest Jetta of them all has set a Guinness World Record by traversing the lower 48 U.S. states while returning 58.82 mpg thanks to John and Helen Taylor.

The Taylors took 20 days to cover the 9,419 miles in a counter clockwise direction, and this wasn't a hypermiling slow-as-you-can-go affair – they stayed within 5 mph of the speed limit. Their car was completely stock as it consumed just 11 tanks of ultra low sulfur diesel and traveled 853 miles per fill up. With that kind of mileage and handling high up on the fun factor, the Jetta TDI makes an excellent case for itself if you like driving and want to lower your fuel consumption.

VW also recently told us that the go-fast Jetta TDIs in the TDI Cup Series are returning an average of 25 mpg and doing their entire 7-race series on just two tanks of gas, which includes qualifying. If that's true, there's got to be another world record in there somewhere...

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany is now home to more than just automobiles. The museum has been recognized by the Guinness Book of Records for creating the "strongest artificially generated tornado in the world." The 34.4 meter high (that is 37.2 yards to those metrically challenged) vortex was not designed as an attraction, but to channel smoke out of the building in the event of a fire. The architecture wonderment that is the museum did not make use of any fire doors in the design (surely they would get in the way of the architect's vision). In order to meet regulations, the building engineers had to determine a way to keep smoke from spreading beyond the fire level, the tornado is the resulting solution. The twister takes around seven minutes to materialize and is generated by 144 jets and 28 tons of air. The low pressure area at the center of the tornado works to create a jet stream that draws smoke out of the building's corridors and funnels it upwards and out an exhaust vent on the roof. Check the gallery for photos of a carbon dioxide infused tornado demonstration.

Check out the video of Mercedes' artificial tornado after the jump.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

And the award for Top Speed Achieved by a Production Automobile goes to: Shelby Supercars' Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo. Claiming a stretch of public road in Washington State for the effort, the SSC UATT made two runs in accordance with Guinness Book of World Record rules, one in each direction. The first run clocked 257.11 MPH, the second, return one came in at 254.55 MPH. The average: 255.83 MPH. That bests all challengers -- yes, even the Veyron -- by at least 3 MPH.

For comparison, the SSC's V8 packs 1,183 BHP and 1,094 ft-lbs. as opposed to the Veyron's 16 cylinders, 1,001 HP, and 922 ft-lb. In addition to a bigger punch, the SSC also carries less weight: 2,700 pounds versus the Veyron's 4,162. Much of the Veyron poundage no doubt is attributable to its interior, which is a splendid place to be even when you're not doing 250+. SSC still needs to submit the paperwork and get official certification from Guinness before it's run is, as we say, officially official. Intriguing, though, that of all the names mentioned, the one not broached was the previous holder of the top speed record: the Callaway Sledgehammer.

[Source: Jalopnik]

Continental has entered the Guinness Book of World Records with a top speed of 242 mph (388 km/h). We're definitely not talking about the behemoth Bentley, as powerful as it is. The record now officially belongs to Continental Tires for its ContiSportContact Vmax, which has been officially certified by those stout-chugging judges as the world's fastest production road tire.

The rubber was tested on the 9ff-modified Porsche 911 that took the world record for the fastest street-legal road car. A custom 9ff cabrio also took the record for the world's fastest convertible with a high end of 237.8 mph (380.5 km/h). Both cars are owned by 9ff chief Jan Fatthauer, and the top speed runs were certified by Guinness.

If you're thinking that the Bugatti Veyron (and the purpose-made Michelin rubber on its wheels) can hit a higher speed, you may be right, but the Veyron has yet to try for the official record, and its tires were specially made for the Bugatti, while the Continentals are offered to the public as standard production road tires. As much as the car's own capabilities, how it makes contact with the road (i.e., its tires) often dictates a car's limits. Just keeping the tires from melting (as they do on the Veyron after just 12 minutes at its 253-mph top speed) is a feat in and of itself.

[Source: Motor Authority]

click above image to view more pics of Ferrari's record-breaking parade of cars

Last Saturday, Ferrari finally got its wish and set the Guinness World Record for the Largest Parade of Ferrari Cars. It wasn't easy, requiring 385 cars to drive a distance of at least two miles with each car being no farther than two car lengths apart. The process for Guinness World Record certification also dictated that a representative be on hand to verify the attempt, as well as count the total number of cars at the beginning and end of the parade lap. Ferrari estimates that over £60 million worth of Italian automotive exotica was on the Silverstone Circuit at once, including everything from a 250 California Spyder to a 250GTO to F40s, F50s, Enzos and ultra-rare FXX. The record attempt honors Ferrari's 60th Anniversary, as well as the 40th Anniversary of the Ferrari Owners Club of Great Britain, the latter of which provided most of the cars for the record-breaking lap of Silverstone.

The event was also one of the final stops on the Ferrari 60 Relay, which will end on June 23rd when the convoy rolls into Maranello after schlepping the 60th Anniversary Relay Baton all the way around the world.

Some great pics were released of the record attempt that can be viewed in the gallery below.

[Source: Ferrari]

This came as a bit of a shock to us, but the Bugatti Veyron is not actually the fastest production car in the world according to that authoritative tome of useless and wonderful knowledge, the Guinness Book of World of Records. It seem Bugatti just never got around to scheduling an official high-speed run that could be officially considered by Guinness. In late October, Bugatti plans to rectify that and make an official top speed run at the Ehra Lessien test track near VW's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. The track has an unbroken straight of 9 km (5.6 miles), which should offer ample room to reach the Veyron's "unofficial" top speed of at least 253 mph. Currently the Veyron only holds the record for the Most Powerful Production Car.

If the official fastest production vehicle isn't the Veyron, then what is? The answer is the Koenigsegg CCR, the 806-hp super Swede that has been officially clocked at 245 mph. The Veyron may not be king of the hill for long, however, as the CCX that Autoblogger Frank Filipponio got to pilot can theoretically reach 258 mph.

[Source: Motor Authority]