World record for the tightest parallel park in reverse
British stunt driver who broke the Guinness World Record for the tightest parallel park in reverse has revealed his secret to the perfect manoeuvre.
Alastair Moffatt, 37, managed to squeeze his way into a gap with a combined distance of just 34cm between the car in front and behind.
Based at the iconic home of British motorsport, Brooklands, he beat the previous world record by one centimetre.
Having reversed around 70 metres at 40 miles per hour, Alastair spun his Classic Mini 180 degrees using a handbrake turn to slot into the space between two other Classic Mini cars.
On achieving his record yesterday morning, Alastair told The Telegraph: “I feel fantastic. It was the second attempt I did and everything just fell into place.
“You have to do this at speed in reverse because you need as much momentum as possible to flip the car around.
“It would be physically impossible to get the car into the space by shunting it in.”
Mr Moffatt, who has a motorsport background and is the director of Stunt Drive UK, added: “I am so thrilled that I was able to achieve a Guinness World Record, it doesn’t get much better than that.
“A lot of planning, dedication and, of course, parking went into today’s successful record attempt.
“I have an 11-month-old who is teething at the moment so luckily we managed to get his nanny to look after him so I could get a good night’s sleep before the test.
“We were practising on Wednesday afternoon until it got dark. There were a few performance problems with the car, trying to get it up to speed. But we got there in the end.
“I have probably practised it a hundred time – practise makes perfect.”
Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, added: “What Alastair has achieved today encapsulates everything about Guinness World Records Day.
“Our parallel parking records are always hotly contested and his demonstration of skill, precision and dedication to achieve such a difficult record is really inspirational stuff. I can barely park in an empty field.”
Other conditions set in the competition ruled Mr Moffatt also had to be within 30cm of the kerb and that he must not touch other the other vehicles whilst slotting into the space.
Giving The Telegraph his secrets to a successful reverse parallel park, Alastair said it was best to “stick to doing it the conventional way” rather than reversing into it at high speed.
He said: “It’s just physics.Don’t do an Austin Powers and bash the car in front and the one behind to nudge your way in. Just follow my tips.”
How to reverse parallel park:
- Don’t drive by feel – use your mirrors and check the space is big enough before attempting to park.
- Drive alongside one of the vehicles you are parking between, with the space behind you and your bumpers parallel.
- Aim for the space to be on your left hand side.
- Look over your left shoulder, quickly turn the steering wheel to full lock and start reversing.
- Once your inside rear tire aligns with the side of the car, straighten steering and continue to reverse.
- Feed the steering wheel back the other way once your front wheel aligns with the same point and carry on reversing.
- Once you are in the space, straighten up and centre the car within the space.
-The Daily Telegraph