New Guinness World Record for Fastest Car on Ice

CREDIT: gwr_jack | guinnessworldrecords.com View full size image

Reaching speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, a Bentley convertible has broken the Guinness World Record as the fastest car on ice.

On Feb. 10, Finnish auto racer Juha Kankkunen drove an all-wheel-drive, 12-cylinder Bentley Continental Supersports convertible across a patch of frozen sea, topping out at 205.48 mph. This mark bests Kankkunen's previous record for fastest car on ice, a 199.83 mph effort set in 2007 in a Bentley Continental GT.

For the event, a 10.25-mile-long track had been carved into the thick, frozen ice resting atop of the Baltic Sea near Oulu, Finland. To account for favorable winds, Kankkunen made two runs on the track, one in each direction, and a GWR judge determined the average speed.

To set the record, Kankkunen was required to keep the car under complete control while speeding on the slippery ice's surface , with temperatures dipping to -22 Fahrenheit and potentially dangerous crosswinds blowing across the frozen sea. Good thing Kankkunen decided against driving with the top down.

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