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Watch these Nissan 350Zs set a record for world's longest twin drift

In July, Harald Muller notched a Guinness World Record by drifting longer than any lone tire-burner ever had: 89.55 miles. This month, Nissan Middle East broke the Guinness World Record for the longest twin drift when two drivers slithered through a figure eight for 17.7 miles. The feat came about to commemorate the opening of the Nissan 370Z Drift Experience in Dubai, which will teach eager punters how to abuse slip angle, but the actual drifting was done with two 350Zs. Nissan opened the center in partnership with ProDrift Academy, a European school for wannabe drifters, and when it comes time for actual instruction that will be done in the eponymous 370Z. You can check out a video snippet from the event and a press release from Nissan Middle East below. Nissan Middle East sets a new Guinness World Records title for the "Longest Twin Vehicle Drifting" Record set during the "Nissan 370Z Drift Experience" launch event DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 15, 2014 – Nissan Middle East today has set a new Guinness World Records title for the longest twin vehicle drifting. Two Nissan Z cars drifted around a track at the same time without stopping for 28.52 kilometers. The record was set in the second attempt during the launch of the "Nissan 370Z Drift Experience" which will offer anyone the opportunity to learn and perfect the art of drifting. Speaking at the event, Samir Cherfan, Managing Director, Nissan Middle East, said: "With today's accomplishment of setting a new Guinness World Records title, we have proven again the strength of our vehicles by adding another Guinness World Records record to our list. The Nissan Z is a very popular car in the drifting scene, and this new record is yet another proof on the ability of this car to make drifting look so easy." "Nissan 370Z Drift Experience" is a partnership between Nissan Middle East and the Prodrift Academy, which is carried out using Nissan 370Zs alongside the Prodrift Academy's professional drift instructors in a safe and controlled environment. "Nissan has a strong focus on motorsports in the Middle East. Since safety is our priority at Nissan, we have partnered with the Prodrift Academy to provide a legal and safe platform for drifting fanatics in the region," Cherfan added. Nissan Motorsports History For nearly 80 years, Nissan has been pushing the boundaries of innovation within the Motorsports industry.

This map reveals the cleanest vehicles based on location

Naysayers love to point out how dirty the electricity grid mix is when it comes to charging electric vehicles. Curmudgeons are eager to jump into any conversation about EVs to enlighten the lucky listeners about how plug-in cars contribute to pollution, sometimes even throwing in a dash of climate-change denial for good measure. (Thanks, buddy. Pray, tell me more about the plight of oppressed SUV owners.) Unless someone buys an EV just because they think they're cool (which, yeah, they often are), they probably have at least a passable understanding of their environmental pros and cons. As many EV owners are already aware, location has a lot to do with any particular plug-in car's carbon footprint. Still, there's always more to know, and knowledge is not a bad thing, especially if one uses it to do the right thing. That's why this handy-dandy map from Carnegie Mellon University is so interesting. CMU researchers have compiled information about the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of various EVs based on where they're charged, as compared to gasoline-powered vehicles. The researchers looked at the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and Prius Plug-In Hybrid versus the gasoline-dependent Toyota Prius hybrid and the stop-start-equipped Mazda3 with i-ELOOP and compared grams of CO2 emitted per mile. CMU takes into account the grid mix, ambient temperature, and driving patterns. CMU takes into account the grid mix based on county, as well as ambient temperature and driving patterns in terms of miles traveled on the highway or in the city. For instance, if you drive a Nissan Leaf in urban areas of California, Texas, or Florida, your carbon footprint is lower than it would be if you were driving a standard Toyota Prius. However, if you charge your Leaf in the Midwest or the South, for the most part, you've got a larger carbon footprint than the Prius. If you live in the rural Midwest, you'd probably even be better off driving a Mazda3. Throughout the country, the Chevrolet Volt has a larger carbon footprint than the Toyota Prius, but a smaller one than the Mazda3 in a lot of urban counties in the US. The Prius and Prius Plug-In are relatively equal across the US. Having trouble keeping it straight? That's not surprising. The comparisons between plug-in and gasoline vehicles are much more nuanced than the loudest voices usually let on.

Nissan GT-R convertible offered in three flavors from NCE

Newport Convertible Engineering, the Southern California company that can't keep its top on, has revealed on its website that it is now producing three different droptop versions of the Nissan GT-R Convertible. It's just another page in its work with high-end offerings like the new Range Rover and the Jaguar XJ. NCE owner Al Zadeh tells Autoblog that the superfast speedster came about during a trip to Abu Dhabi, when clients of his that collectively owned ten GT-Rs said they wanted him to engineer a convertible. They didn't want to see pictures, though, "They wanted to touch it and see it," he said.
So he built a convertible with a traditional, unadorned soft tonneau cover (the white one in our gallery) and another with hard tonneau cover fitted with roll hoops and a low-rise dual cowl (the blue one). When the clients saw it, "They said they wanted something more glamorous," Zadeh said. So he came up with the black version above with a hard tonneau cover and can't-miss-it cowling that, frankly, looks pretty good to us in that color and with those wheels.
Clients satisfied, the order books have opened for other GT-R owners around the world. The most restrained version runs $29,500 to build, the other two retail for $49,000, and all of them require a donor GT-R and eight weeks to finish. With facilities in SoCal, Europe and the Middle East, you won't even have to send your Godzilla too far away if this is the look you've decided it just has to have.