Previously owned by China at 32 cm, New Zealand driver Peter Bell set the new record with his Toyota Corolla at 27 cm. The centimeter value is how much wider the parking space is than the vehicle he intends to park. Parallel parking is considered the hardest driving skill to master, and Peter Bell has successfully become the parallel parking god of our time. Will his record be beat? Probably, as even at 27 cm there is still plenty of room to park. How is it possible to park within such a confined space? The driver has to use the e-brake and slide the vehicle into position. There's no other way to do it, with a little practice and luck this could be accomplished by anyone. I'm beginning to wonder if this is technically parallel parking or just a vehicular stunt. There is a difference you know!
According to wikipedia, there is two fundamental ways to parallel park a vehicle. "Two major types of parallel parking technique differ in whether they will use two or three positions of the steering wheel while backing. A skilled driver may be able to parallel park successfully by backing with the steering wheel turned all the way to the right and then immediately cranking the wheel all the way to the left at a critical point. For beginning drivers, those with larger cars or bad sight lines, this may risk collision with either the car in front of or behind the parking space, or it could also result in the car being parked too far away from the curb. Such drivers may find it easier to include an intermediate step, where after having achieved the ideal angle for backing up they back up with the wheels straight until the rear end of the car is far enough back to allow them to make their final reverse turn. While steering wheel positions in between full-right, straight, and full-left are possible to use, beginners may be able to gauge their progress more effectively by turning the wheel all the way to the right or left."
As you'll see in the video, the world record was set by not using either one of the standardized techniques. In no parallel parking manual does it state to use the e-brake and slide the car into place. I'm pretty sure if a driver used this "world record" technique he or she would fail the driving test miserably as this qualifies for reckless driving. So that brings up the question, is this really parallel parking or is it just a car stunt? Sure the end result is the same, but the "act" of parking is completely different. In my opinion and not to take away from the record holder as this is an amazing stunt; this world record title is incorrect and should be changed to "slide parking" or something similar as it is not following parallel parking text book guidelines. What do you think? Comment below!
Video content: Tightest parallel parking world record broken
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