Motors News

We didn’t even know there was a record for the world’s flattest car. But there is and here’s the new holder.

The Guinness Book of World Records is a treasure trove of bizarre information and feats of endeavour and engineering that nobody even knew existed. Possibly one of the most bizarre records in the entire book is that of the lowest roadworthy road car.

The previous record holder was a remarkable vehicle called the Flatmobile, a replica of, you guessed it, the Batmobile. It looks pretty crazy.

But that amazing car has been trumped by this effort by students and teachers at Okayama Sanyo High School in Japan. Autoblog tells us that the single-seater is only 45.2 centimeters, or 17.7 inches high at its highest point. That doesn’t include the driver, in case you are wondering.

Harada Kazunari, Principal at Okayama Sanyo High School, tells the site, "It can be frightening to drive MIRAI on a big street, especially when the speed goes over 40km/h because the road is very close to the driver's eye point. Also, you can feel afraid that you will be run over by other cars. So, we make it a rule, when we drive MIRAI on a busy street, to place a leading car to the front of MIRAI, and a guarding car in the rear."

And as the video shows, it seems safe enough if the roads are quiet but we would fear for our lives if we tried to drive home from work in it.