Fastest car on ice: Nokian Tyres breaks Guinness world record (VIDEO)
NOKIA, Finland -- The new world record for fastest car on ice was achieved by Nokian Tyres, inventor of the winter tyre, when test driver Janne Laitinen drove at a speed of 335.713 kilometres per hour (208.602 mph) on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia in freezing winter weather,
according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.
Photo: The new world record for fastest car on ice was achieved by Nokian Tyres, when test driver Janne Laitinen drove at a speed of 335.713 kilometres per hour (208.602 mph) on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia. (enlarge photo)
The Guinness world record for the Land speed (fastest car) is is 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mi/h) (Mach 1.020), set by Andy Green (UK) on 15 October 1997 in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA, in Thrust SSC.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the smallest roadworthy car, set by "Wind Up" which measures 104.14 cm (41 in) high, 66.04 cm (26 in) wide and 132.08 cm (52 in). It was created by Perry Watkins (UK) and finished and measured in Wingrave, UK
Grip and speed like never before were ensured by the new spearhead product for the world's leading manufacturer of winter tyres - the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 studded tyre (255/35R20 97 T XL).
The car driven in this exceptional test by the company's own "Iceman" Janne Laitinen, who holds multiple world records, was an Audi RS6.
The speed of Nokian Tyres' own test vehicle reached close to 340 kilometres an hour (211.27 mph) during the record.
The new world record was achieved on 9 March near the city of Oulu, on an 12-kilometre (7.5 mile) track created on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia.
Nokian Tyres and Laitinen, who has worked as a tyre testing professional for over twenty-five years, also hold the earlier Guinness World Record for fastest car on ice (march 2011:331.61 km/h)(march 2011:206.05 mph) and the record for driving on ice with an electric car (march 2012:252.06 km/h)(march 2012:156.62 mph).
Nokian Tyres is the world's northernmost tyre manufacturer. The company developed and manufactured the world's first winter tyre for the winter frost in 1934. Two years later, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta was born in the Nordic winter; it is already a legend wherever there are true winter conditions.