Formula E car hits 218 km/h indoors to smash Guinness World Records title

A revolutionary Formula E electric race car, the GENBETA, has smashed the indoor landspeed world record by more than 50 km/h reaching a top speed of more than 218km/h inside a building in London.

The official Guinness World Records title was achieved by driver Jake Hughes of NEOM McLaren Formula E Team who competed with a rival in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Mahindra Racing team driver Lucas di Grassi, to set the world record for the fastest speed achieved by a vehicle indoors.

The pair went head-to-head in the ‘Duels’ format used in qualifying for Formula E races to see who could set the fastest speed indoors, on just 346 metres of straight race track, using the same GENBETA car.

Neither driver had ever been behind the wheel of the GENBETA before, but both beat the previous world record of 165.2km/h (102.65 mph) set in February 2021 on all three of their practice runs before their official world record attempts.

The GENBETA car driven by both drivers to set the new world record featured a range of modifications to effectively ‘unlock’ the specifications of the GEN3 race car. Introduced this season in Formula E, the GEN3 is the fastest, lightest, most powerful and efficient electric race car ever built. With a top speed of more than 322 km/h (200 mph), the GEN3 is used by the 11 teams and 22 drivers in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.