BMW recently used lasers and balloons to break a rather odd record with the M2 Competition and now Skoda is showing what it can do with arrows and an Octavia RS 245 wagon to get into the Guinness World Records book. As a homage to the company’s logo featuring the winged arrow in use since 1926, the Czech marque through its Austrian division organized an interesting challenge on a 1.7-mile (2.8-kilometer)-long runway at Zeltweg, the biggest military airbase in Austria.
Update:
To make it happen, Skoda Austria got in touch with Austrian Olympic archer Laurence Baldauf and asked her to fire the arrow while martial arts coach Markus Haas leaning out of the speedy wagon’s sunroof was tasked to catch the flying object. After four months of planning, Skoda was able to set a new Guinness World Record for the farthest arrow fired and caught in a moving car with an impressive distance of 188 feet (57.5 meters).
It’s a remarkable achievement considering Haas only had a half a second window to catch the 27-inch (68-centimeter) arrow, which reached a top speed of 134 mph (215 kph), thus covering 197 feet (60 meters) per second. Because the arrow flies in an arc rather than in a straight line, the distance over which the arrow could have been caught by Haas was reduced to just 98 feet (30 meters).
Needless to say, Skoda didn’t necessarily have to go with the model, but we’re glad they picked the Octavia RS 245 Combi equipped with the essential sunroof without which the record-breaking attempt couldn’t have been possible. Next time, Skoda ought to try the “catch an arrow” challenge from one of the car’s side windows to increase the difficulty even more.
Source: Skoda
Gallery: Skoda catch the arrow
ŠKODA VS ARROW: MARTIAL ARTS COACH CATCHES 134MPH FLYING ARROW OUT OF OCTAVIA vRS SUNROOF
- ŠKODA sets new GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for the farthest arrow fired and caught in a moving car
- Olympic archer, Laurence Baldauff, martial artist and arrow catcher Markus Haas combined to set 57.5m (188ft) record-breaking distance
- Arrow caught from sunroof of Octavia Combi vRS 245 and reached top speed of 134mph
- Record set in homage to ŠKODA logo which features winged arrowed
- Watch the record in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwhc-SniBPk
Mladá Boleslav, 24 September 2018 – ŠKODA has achieved its most daring GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ to date: the farthest flight of an arrow caught by hand from a moving car.
Using the Octavia Combi vRS 245, the fastest Octavia ever produced, ŠKODA registered an unbelievable distance of 57.5 metres (188ft).
The Record attempt called on the expertise of Austrian Olympic archer Laurence Baldauff who fired the arrow while martial arts coach Markus Haas deftly caught the flying object leaning out of the sunroof of the car.
Success or failure was a matter of millimetres and hundredths of a second. The arrow travelled at 134 miles per hour (60 metres per second) and the distance between the archer and its target was 70 metres. However, as the arrow flies in an arc rather than a straight line, the distance over which the arrow can be captured from the open sunroof was reduced to around 30 metres. Haas, therefore had a window of 0.5 seconds to catch the 68-centimetre-long arrow.
The record in numbers:
- Four months of planning
- Arrow reached top speed of 134mph (60 metres per second)
- 70 metre distance between the archer and its moving target
- 0.5 seconds to catch 68-centimetre-long arrow
The record was set at the Zeltweg air base in Austria in homage to the ŠKODA brand which has featured the winged arrow on its logo since 1926.
For more information, check out ŠKODA Storyboard https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/models/the-arrow-in-flight-versus-octavia-rs/