On 2 March 2010, Metin Şentürk, a popular Turkish folk singer, was acknowledged as the new Guinness World Records™ record holder in the category for the fastest speed for a car driven blindfolded.
Mr Şentürk was presented with his certificate at ŞanlıUrfa Airport, ŞanlıUrfa, Turkey, under the warm spring sunshine, which made the day more pleasant for everyone in attendance.
From the number of people involved in the record attempt, I could clearly see that this was a well organized and dedicated team that only had one aim – to beat the previous record of 269.28 km/h (167.32 mph), set by Mike Newman (UK) in a BMW M5 Saloon at Elvington Aerodrome, North Yorkshire, UK, on 11 October 2005. Being a fine English gentlemen, Mr Newman rang Mr Şentürk the night before his attempt on the record to wish him the best of luck. Encouraged by this great gesture, Metin was in excellent spirits on the day, smiling and talking to vast number of journalists without hesitation.
Mr Şentürk lost his sight at the age of 3, but this didn't stop him from becoming a famous singer and now the president of the World Handicapped Foundation, an organization he established to encourage people of different abilities to speak out and take up opportunities that they may not have considered before.
Another member of the team behind this record-breaking feat was Volkan Işık, a former rally driver and Mr Şentürk's coach.
The car of choice was the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. Mr Şentürk used a faster sports version of the car and another was used by Mr Işık, who instructed his folk-singing protégé via a radio link in their helmets. Mr Şentürk’s car’s speed was calculated with expert help and advice from Mark Hargreaves of Datron Technology (UK) using the MicroSat speed sensor – the guidelines for this record required an average speed calculated over two runs and measured to the nearest hundredth of km/h (mph).
The team had been practising hard to break the record and their dedication paid off when on 31 March, Mr Şentürk managed an average speed of 292.89 km/h (182.03 mph) over two runs, thereby making him the new Guinness World Records™ record holder!
