Armless racing driver sets a Guinness World Record

Bartosz Ostałowski, from Poland, has officially been recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s fastest driver to complete a 50-meter straight line run in a single controlled drift. Ostałowski lost his arms in an accident 16 years ago, so he had to drive using his legs.

The talented drifter managed to maintain the angle at 30°–60° throughout the run. He entered the strip at 277 km/h (172 miles per hour) and completed it with an average speed of 231.66 km/h (143.9 mph).

For his record-breaking run, Ostałowski used a custom BMW 3-Series swapped to a 7.0-liter Chevrolet V8. The new engine was twin-turbocharged to deliver 1,012 PS (1,000 hp / 746 kW) and 1,280 Nm (944 lb-ft) of torque to the wheels through a custom ZF auto transmission supporting manual switching.

The driver used his right shoulder to switch gears through a special extension attached to the gear lever. He used his left foot to drive the car and his right foot to work the pedals and the handbrake (or footbrake, such as the case may be). The lack of hands has not prevented Bartosz Ostałowski from participating in numerous other drift and rallycross events in the past years.