This is the story of how an American man, living in South Africa, equipped with a Japanese car, breaks the world’s longest drifting record title. A title currently held by a German man.
Have you ever woken up one morning, logged onto Twitter, come across some random guy’s profile and decided “I want his title!”? This man living in South Africa did
His name is Jesse Adams.
Adams, 39, is a motoring journalist at IOL and The Star Motoring. He woke up one morning in November 2015, logged onto Twitter, as we all do, and came across Harald Müller’s profile. Müller’s bio mentioned he had a record for drifting and right there and then, Adams felt he wanted that title.
So he researched into it and discovered the record for the longest drift was 145km. “I could challenge that,” he said, “I have the resources, and contacts I need.” He had a race-driver background, but, never really made it big, and felt like this was the next big thing for him!
“I was always wanted to be a race driver!”
So he got in touch with Guinness to find out all the details on this and he waited and waited. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned to months. Adams was on the verge of giving up hope of hearing back from them. Then, 6 months later, Guinness got back to him with the necessary details and that’s when he got started with his plans.
The requirements were very little, one being a completely flat surface and another was independent judges. Müller had completed his task on a wet surface, which is apparently not considered as a proper ‘drift’ by many in the industry. However, it is accepted by Guinness regulations, as such a drift would not be possible on a dry surface.
He began structuring proposals and approaching companies – Toyota SA was willing to sponsor him a new Toyota 86 and ATS Motorsport wanted to sponsor his gear. He said a lot of people volunteered to help, to which he’s very grateful.
Jesse Adams with the Toyota 86 sponsored by Toyota SA. Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
On with his plans, everything came together and the date was set – Monday the 12th of June 2017, he would attempt to break the World record for the longest continuous drift. The only modification made to his car was the addition of an extra 40-litre fuel tank, created by Hallspeed and fitted into the spare wheel well of the car.
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
Drift Day
The morning had arrived. Nervousness overpowered his excitement as he felt a lot of pressure to not disappoint. “I’m terrified of failing,” he said.
Adams at the start line.
The countdown began and onto a wet track he went, at a few minutes past 09h00. The record to beat was 144.126km.
One hour in and everything had been going smoothly. Adams completed 170 laps in roughly 177 meters per lap. On average, each lap was completed in about 18-20 seconds.
The second hour passed, the third hour passed, and the fourth hour passed. Adams was still going strong with no mishaps.
Apparently, on the last 20 laps the crowd began to huddle together and the event coordinator, Adrian Burford, started counting Jesse down. He began to spin a few more times than normal and everyone felt nervous and anxious on his behalf. He had come this far and it would be absolutely crushing to fail on the last few laps. With 10 laps down, everyone surrounded the 4 independent witnesses and timekeepers.
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
At exactly 4h57m58s, Adams had met Müller’s record of 144.126km in around 900 laps. Müller had achieved his record in 2h25m18s with 612 laps, back in 2014. The German drifter had also made use of a standard Toyota GT86 and the event took place in Turkey.
Adams continued on to complete a total of 1000 laps in 5h45m and covered a total distance of 168.504km.
Taking the title
When Adams came off the track, he got out of his car and greeted his wife and co-ordinators. He then said, “I just want to go to bed now! I want a hot bath and to go to bed”. He previously said, “drifting is not a lot of labour – I just have to work my foot, pedals, and arms”. But after doing it for almost six hours, he admitted how incredibly difficult it was.
It was a LONG five hours and he wanted to quit a few times. He admitted, “At about 400 laps I started to think to myself, what excuses can I give because I wanted to give up.” He continued, “and at 600, I wanted to give up again, the rear wheels started to do funny things.”
An emotional Adams confessed, “I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I did, and probably could have done another 200.”
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
Becoming Famous
But from a young age, he knew he had pretty good control of a car. He worked on the mechanical side of race cars but always wanted to be a driver. He moved from the States to South Africa in 2000 and got back into the motorsport scene. In SA, it was more accessible to be a race driver. In 2002, he won the title of Production Car Rookie of the Year for circuit racing. That’s when he got a taste of being a famous racing driver.
Adams always wanted to be famous and was determined to attach this title to his name. After discovering it, he set his mind to it and worked to achieve it.
Until the Guinness World Records team completes the verification process, Adams record remains unofficial.
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
Photo by Farzana Chaumoo.
