When the first rumors of the BMW M5 becoming an all-wheel drive machine started surfacing, everyone panicked about the prospect. It wasn’t even confirmed back then and some immediately started mourning the death of the M brand altogether. When the Germans confirmed the rumors, but stated that a RWD mode would be available, people were still reluctant about the driving dynamics of the F90 M5.
However, BMW proved that some things shouldn’t change and even though they made the M5 all-wheel drive, they made sure to keep it as fun as possible. After all, one of the things that define the brand is the fact that their cars are easy to drift, especially M models. And who doesn’t love to get the tail spinning? The guys from BMW Canada wanted to see what a professional racer and three-time Guinness World Record holder thinks about it.
Therefore they put together a short clip showcasing Johan Schwartz and the new M5 out on the track, with the man sharing some of his thoughts on what drifting means. For those of you who don’t know who Schwartz has quite an impressive resume. He was part of a team in 2001 who set a record for the longest distance traveled in a go kart in 24 hours for example. He then also set yet another world record in 2013 with the help of the BMW Performance Center. He set the record for the longest continuous drift back then with 51.278 miles covered over the course of one hour and 40 minutes.
Of course, as you very well know most likely, that record was beaten this year using the F90 M5 but who was behind the wheel? Schwartz, once again, breaking his own record, this time with an all-wheel drive car. Within eight hours, he drifted a full 232.5 miles (374.2 kilometres) around the test circuit, shattering the old record.
