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Breaking records is nothing new for us at McLaren, but ahead of last year's London E-Prix, Jake Hughes chalked up a rather different achievement by breaking the indoor speed record, hitting 135 mph at London's ExCeL.

He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records already, but what else could Jake do to get his name on those pages? One year on from his successful attempt, we went through the list of world records with our British racer ahead of his home E-Prix and selected some relatable ones we thought he might fancy taking on. Here’s what he had to say on whether he could beat them or not...

Acceleration to match the speed

The speed box has been ticked, but could he get there quicker than anyone else, too? Formula E cars hit 100 kph in around 2.8 seconds, but that’s some way off the electric vehicle world record of 0.956s, achieved by AMZ Racing in Dübendorf, Zurich, Switzerland, in 2023.

Ever the great workman, Jake says his tools will be what matter the most, and given the right ones, he’s confident that cracking the acceleration record would be no issue.

“I've never got close to that, but I don't see why I couldn't,” he insists. “Obviously, the engineering is everything. I'd like to think, given the technology, I'd be able to break that. I feel like being a racing driver is the best training you can have to be able to break that. If someone gave me the car, I'd be able to do it.”

G-oing further

Sustaining high G-forces is part of a driver’s job, but could Jake hit the highest G ever experienced by a human (82.6, set by Eli L. Beeding for 0.04 seconds on a water-braked rocket sled in 1958)?

“That sounds high,” he says. “I'm sure I hit over 40 in Monaco in a Formula 2 crash. I wouldn't say I could never break that, because I don't know if there's any crash out there that's got close, but I don't plan to break that.”

If it is to be achieved, however, Jake says, “I don't think you could train for that at all. You'd have to be a fighter jet pilot for starters, and I'm definitely not one of those.”

Sideways yet speedy

When racing, Jake’s job is to drive cleanly. Sliding eats up tyres and costs valuable lap time, but that doesn’t mean a record for the fastest drift – currently a brisk 129 mph – would be out of reach.

“I could do that,” he says confidently. “I've done faster slides. I don't know how long the drift was for, but I'd be pretty disappointed if I couldn't do that. It's kind of what I do for a living: try and not crash.”

But let’s not try it on track, please.

Proud parker

“I am very outspoken about my brilliance at parallel parking,” Jake says proudly.

So, breaking the record for the tightest parallel park in an EV should be the perfect one for Jake to attempt. The current record stands at 30 cm, and was measured by subtracting the length of the car being parked from the size of the parking space.

“I actually find it a challenge, in a fun way,” he adds. “It’s quite satisfying when I can do it. If the car was bang in the middle, you'd have 15 cm space front and rear. I could do that. It'd take a while, but I could do that.”

So if you ever can’t find a space next time you’re in town, maybe give our boy a call. He’ll do it well, and maybe get your car in places others can’t.

Coffee to get you going

Coffee has many uses, apparently. The longest journey achieved for a coffee-powered vehicle (yes, we can’t quite believe this record exists either) was achieved on a 337 km journey to Manchester from London in a modified 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco. Like with the acceleration and speed records, the car is key, but so long as that’s taken care of, Jake doesn’t see an issue.

“That’s my sort of challenge,” says Jake, whose love of coffee is well-known. “The longest journey is an easy one as long as the car can do it, because I'm stubborn. I'd just stay until the time's past.”

How about a coffee-powered Jake? The fastest time to drink a cup is 3.17 seconds, achieved by Andre Ortolf in Augsburg, Germany in 2021. Compared to some records on this list, that one sounds pretty straightforward, but ever the analytical racing driver, Jake delves deeper.

“If it's a black coffee then it's open to interpretation of how big that is. If it's for white coffee, and you put in hot milk, the temperature would make a huge difference. I'd need to have scientists involved to make sure I wasn't being ripped off, but I pride myself on my coffee drinking. I'm going to back myself and say I could do that one.”

Now let’s make that cup bigger – and by bigger, we mean 3.5 m x 3 m, holding 26,939.22 litres,  made up of 300 kg of coffee beans, which is what Tonic World Center S.A. de C.V. did in in Guanajuato, Mexico in December 2022.

“Oh, I drink more than that,” he jumps in. “I wouldn't say that’s easily breakable, but it's definitely doable. It's just whether you can be bothered to do it. But if there's money on the line, I'll do it.”

Look, no hands!

Cycling is a key part of a racing driver’s training regime, and Jake is a particularly keen cyclist, but we prefer our drivers to keep both hands on the handlebars when they’re out. Thankfully, Jake agrees, so beating the 122 km record for the longest ride with no hands, achieved by V.T Vignesh Kumar in Tamil Nadu, India, in 2017, is off the cards.

“I'd have absolutely no chance of that record,” he declares. “I'd be too scared of coming off and breaking my collarbone and having to miss a race, but also, my balance is nowhere near as good on two wheels as it is on four. I don't think I've got that in me.”

What about backwards? Andrew Hellinga of Australia cycled 337.60 km at the Holden Performance Driving Centre, Queensland, Australia, in 2013, entirely backwards.

“If you're good at cycling with no hands, it's feasible that you could do that, but I've got no coordination with stuff like that,” he says. “I don't think I have any desire to do that one. I don't know which one's more impressive, cycling backwards or with no hands, but they’re not for me.”

The grandest tour

Okay, so that’s fair enough. How about going for the longest distance ever cycled, which is 1,286,517km, achieved by Tommy Chambers of Glasgow between 1922 and 1973?

“Absolutely zero chance. That is about 55 to 60 km of riding a day, every day for 60 years. I like cycling, but…”

Times have changed since the record was set over 120 years ago, so even if the record was achievable, it’s not at all necessary.

“In 1903, bikes were probably the one thing you can get around on other than a horse. He obviously started that and got so into it that he just kept going,” he says. “If that is legit, then that is probably one of the most impressive records out there. I've got no chance of breaking that.”

What about if we muddy the waters – or the wheels – by making him do it on a mountain bike? Could Jake beat the record for the furthest distance covered on a mountain bike in 48 hours? It’s only 624,11 miles, but he isn’t too sure.

“That’s 500 km every 24 hours, more or less. So, every five hours, you're cycling 100 km,” he explains. “You might say 20km an hour is not so high, but on a mountain bike, that is high.”

“If you ride above 28 km now on a road bike, then you're doing all right. On a mountain bike, I'd say you could probably get to around 25 comfortably on a mountain bike. To be doing 20 for 48 hours, that is frankly ridiculous.

“I think, on a road bike, I'd be able to do that – I cycle at around 31 km an hour. But I definitely don't think I could do that on a mountain bike.”

Dressing for dinner

Some of these records have been strange, but there’s even weirder ones, and Jake would back himself with a couple of those oddities.

The most T-shirts put on in a minute currently stands at 35, and Jake says he’d “give that a go”.

“That sounds like a laugh,” he adds.

A record he should probably save until after he’s got the t-shirts on is for the most chicken nuggets eaten in half a minute, which is 19.

“I'll give the nuggets a go,” he says, before adding: “I probably wouldn't be able to do that one.”

Well, with the off-season coming up, he’s got time for a cheat day or two…