Demonstrating unparalleled driving ability, 43-year-old Italian stuntman Marco Davide Giony has set a new world record for the tightest gap driven through by a HGV on its side wheels.
Marco expertly manoeuvred the HGV cab through a 380-cm (12-ft-5-in) wide gap, maintaining the side wheelie over a 10-metre distance.
To successfully achieve this record, the HGV unit must make a clean pass through the gap without touching the side barriers, and after driving at least 10 metres, it must be brought to a controlled stop without toppling over.
To get the HGV into the side-wheelie position, Marco drove the right-side wheels up a ramp whilst keeping the left-side wheels on the ground.
He failed his first official attempt as he struggled to keep control of the HGV, veering too far to the left and knocking over the side barriers. Marco perhaps compensated too much for this error in the second attempt, where he veered too far right, hitting the other set of barriers.
Fortunately, Marco was successful in his third and final attempt, skilfully navigating the HGV through the narrow gap and safely landing it on all four wheels.
“I’ve still got the adrenaline rush and my hand feels weak,” Marco said afterwards to Umberto Pelizzari, co-host of Lo Show dei Record, the TV show where Marco’s record attempt took place.
“Now the adrenaline is falling and I could lie right here,” he joked.
Marco admitted he “started a bit too strong” on the first two attempts, causing him to crash into the barriers.
“The truck’s cabin was moving too much and I had a lot of ‘play’, so it was hard,” he explained.
“In that moment I needed to accelerate, but as soon as you accelerate by a millimetre, the cabin starts going like a ballerino.”
Marco said he concentrated more during his third attempt, trying to keep a steady amount of pressure on the gas pedal.
In addition to requiring a high level of mental focus, this stunt was also quite physically demanding for Marco: “the arm, the shoulder; I can really feel them,” he said.
After being awarded his Guinness World Records certificate, Marco was joined on stage by his son, whom he is teaching to follow in his footsteps as a stuntman and record breaker.
More side-wheelie records
- Tightest gap driven through by a tractor unit on its side wheels: 1 metre (3 ft 3.3 in), by Sun Jinguo (China) in 2013
- Tightest gap driven through by a car on two wheels: 44.5 cm (17.52 in), by Alastair Moffatt (UK) in 2016
- Tightest gap driven through by two cars on two wheels: 1.29 m (4 ft 2 in), by John and Alastair Moffatt (UK) in 2016
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