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Virtual Ford GT races into record books

Energy drinks and sweeties kept gamers at the wheel of a virtual race car to set new Guinness World Record.

JUST LAST WEEK, on 18 August, five dedicated gamers each raced a Ford GT in Forza Motorsport 6 for Xbox One for 48 hours, 29 minutes and 21 seconds to set a new Guinness World Records title for “longest video marathon on a racing game”.

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The bleary-eyed gamers were Cara Scott (25) from the UK; Hélène Cressot, from France; Johannes Knapp (30) from Germany; Andrea Lorenzo Facchinetti (42) from Italy; and Jesús Sicilia Sánchez (23) from Spain.

The five took on a simulated version of the La Sarthe circuit used for the Le Mans 24 Hours, where the real life Ford GT race car achieved a historic victory earlier this year.

To stay awake for two nights straight, they drank 32 energy drinks, 146 bottles of water and 47 bottles of soft drinks, and consumed more than 3kg of sweets.

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Ford Chip Ganassi Racing driver Stefan Mücke, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the Ford GT said:

They did an amazing job. Just like driving at the real Le Mans, this achievement required extreme levels of concentration, attention to detail, and most importantly endurance – because they had to keep going for twice as long as we did.

Compared with Mücke’s 136 laps of Le Mans – completed during 9:05.40 hours of real world driving – the quintet completed a combined 3015 laps and 41,004 kilometres, which is equivalent to driving once around the world.

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