1) Travis Pastrana: 82-meter rally car jump
With Evel Knievel as an idol, it’s no surprise we could fill this entire list with just Travis Pastrana stunts. Perhaps his best on four wheels was on New Year’s Eve in 2009, when Pastrana flung his Subaru Impreza STI rally car off the pier in Long Beach while doing 146kph. After flying for 82 meters, he landed on a floating barge and set a new world record.
2) Tanner Foust: 101-meter Hot Wheels jump
Top Gear USA host Tanner Foust performed this record-breaking stunt in front of a packed crowd at the Indy 500, presumably just to give himself even more pressure. Back in 2011, he drove down a 10-story-high, life-sized orange track before soaring for 101 meters and smashing the world record.
3) Bryce Menzies: 116-meter Pro2 jump
Thought 101 meters was far? In 2016, Bryce Menzies jumped his 888hp Pro2 truck for 116 meters over a New Mexico ghost town and into the world record books. He wanted to go even further, but a warmup jump ahead of another attempt went wrong, and Menzies ended up with a broken shoulder.
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4) Guerlain Chicherit: Mini Countryman backflip
In 2013, Guerlain Chicherit became the first person to complete an unassisted backflip in a car. ‘Unassisted’ meant it was done using a static ramp, while the car was a modified Mini Countryman with long-travel suspension. It landed with a bang onto a giant ramp of snow.
5) Dan Runte: Monster truck jumps Boeing 727
The distance record that Dan Runte set while launching the Bigfoot 14 monster truck over a Boeing 727 in 1999 may well have been broken since, but we still think a 62-meter jump using a relatively small dirt ramp is one of the greatest things we’ve ever seen.
6) Adrian ‘Wildman’ Cenni: 360-degree barrel roll
In 2013, Adrian ‘Wildman’ Cenni became the first person to land a 360-degree barrel roll in his Pro4 truck. He took off from ground level and hit an initial ramp to get airborne, before a second ramp sent him into a spin. A man well deserving of his nickname. Pure madness.
7) Mike Ryan and Martin Ivanov: Renault Magnum jumps F1 car
In late 2014, Lotus F1 needed a way to publicize its new deal with computer storage company EMC. The logical method it came up with? Jumping one of its Renault Magnum transport trucks (with trailer) over the top of a moving Formula 1 car. Martin Ivanov in the F1 car—Top Gear salutes you.
8) Gregg Godfrey: 51-meter truck jump
That previous Lotus stunt actually gave Mike Ryan a world record as he jumped the truck 25 meters through the air, but it was smashed in 2015 when American madman Gregg Godfrey gracefully glided a truck cab for 51 meters between dirt ramps in Salt Lake City.
9) Naji Bou Hassan: Most concurrent donuts by one driver
In Beirut on September 3, 2017, Naji Bou Hassan started doing some donuts in an E30 BMW 3-Series. He then stepped out of that car while it was still spinning and jumped into another E30. He set that one off, too, then did the same in three other cars so that all five were donuting at the same time.
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
