GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 17, 2013) — BMW Performance Center instructor Johan Schwartz set a Guinness World Record for longest sustained drift May 11 at the BMW facility in Greenville, driving a BMW M5 sedan fitted with ContiSportContact 5P tires.
Mr. Schwartz completed 322½ laps around the 841-foot performance center skid pad, for a total of 51.3 miles (82.5 kilometers) on one set of the tires. Continental Tires the Americas L.L.C.'s ContiSportContact 5P is an ultra-high-performance OE tire on the M5.
The previous Guinness World Record for the category was set in February in Abu Dhabi with a total distance of 6.94 miles (11.2 kilometers), Continental said. As a kick-off event to a week of activities leading up to the BMW Charity Pro-Am, the event generated more than $20,000 in charitable donations.
"It was a great day with a lot of money collected for charity," Mr. Schwartz said following the event. "People had a hard time believing that I did this event on off-the-shelf ContiSportContact 5Ps. I can't blame people for being amazed."
Mr. Schwartz, a native of Denmark, has been a full-time racer since 2001 and an instructor at the BMW Performance Center since 2011.
Travis Roffler, director of marketing for Conti, said the company is "ecstatic" that the new record was set on Continental tires.
"Johan's accomplishment is a testament to the performance and confidence that our tires provide drivers every day on the road," Mr. Roffler said. "We congratulate Johan and everyone at the BMW Performance Driving School on their achievement."