Turbo S, the flagship model, was chosen for its neck-snapping acceleration (and brakes).
Tanner Foust, a Ford Fiesta Rallycross owner and $500,000 in-house speed record holder, set an indoor speed record for Top Gear America in 2011. His 560-horsepower supermini reached 87 mph (140 km/h) inside a one-million-square-foot warehouse. Now, fast forward to 2021 and that record has been broken by Porsche which offers a much more affordable car. It’s still quite affordable, at $185,000 with options.
This is a Taycan Turbo S that Leh Keen, a professional race car driver, drove inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. It covers more than one million square feet making it perfect for this type record. Porsche explained that driving at high speeds on polished concrete surfaces is almost like driving over ice.
Turbo S, the flagship model, was chosen because of its incredible acceleration. It took just 2.6 seconds to accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph. Carbon-ceramic brakes are also available on the all-wheel-drive sedan to reduce the chance of the car colliding with the wall. Leh Keen was able to propel the electric Porsche to 102.65 MPH (165.20 km/h). While this is not the fastest speed, it’s still quite impressive to do so inside a building.
After several exploratory runs at low speeds, the new record was set after one attempt. To ensure maximum grip, the Taycan Turbo S used the original street tires. To meet Guinness World Records criteria, Leh had no choice but to stop at the start and finish line, without the safety net. The driver was also prohibited from opening the doors as a last-minute escape measure.
The Taycan Turbo S does not have headlights, in case you didn’t notice. Porsche explained to us why. The company representative said that the record attempt must be made with a non-homologated vehicle in order for it to be valid. Porsche simply removed the headlights.
The Guinness World Records page shows that the record-breaking run took place on November 18, 2020. However, Porsche is only now revealing this achievement. The record follows several others set by the Taycan in recent months, such as the longest electric car drift.
It’s worth noting that Tanner Foust was almost matched by Mikko Hirvonen in 2013. The driver of the Finnish rally car drove a cross-kart that weighed only 312 kg (688 pounds), and was powered by a 150-hp Suzuki motorbike engine. He reached speeds almost identical to the Fiesta Rallycross’s insane 140 km/h (87mph). Mikko Hirvonen was actually the record holder, despite her slightly faster top speed (140 km/h instead of 139.98 km/h). So far, so good.