Goldfish drives custom-built car a record distance in one minute
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/03/13/netherlands-Guinness-World-Records-driving-goldfish/5971773414979/
March 13 (UPI) -- A Netherlands engineer built a car for his pet goldfish, Blub, who drove the vehicle a distance of 40 feet in one minute to break a world record.
Thomas de Wolf constructed a four-wheeled vehicle with a water tank for a driver's seat. The vehicle is steered by analyzing the movements of the goldfish inside the tank.
"Normally my job is quite monotonous, so I wanted to create something that would entertain people, turning my 'serious' job into something fun," de Wolf said on Guinness World Records' Italian TV series Lo Show dei Record.
De Wolf said that while a car driven by a goldfish might not be particularly practical, the motion-sensing technology that it runs on could prove to be very useful to people with disabilities.
"The objective is to show people what is possible to achieve with this kind of technology, even when it's not necessarily something 'serious,'" he said. "I would love to maybe one day be able to help people with mobility issues."
Blub the goldfish was placed into the car and drove it for a distance of 40 feet and 3.46 inches, setting a new Guinness World Record for the greatest distance covered in a motion-sensing vehicle by a goldfish in one minute.
"How am I going to explain to Blub now that he has a world record title?" de Wolf mused.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidFor the paltry sum of 1200 pounds, I'll send you one.
We've run out of walnuts.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidNo, one walnut--it's in my pocket right now.
1200 pounds for one shipping container of walnuts?
Done!
@Ghost-of-a-Duke said"Suspicious" ?? My, what a devious mind you have.
Sir, there is something very suspicious about a chap who walks around with a walnut in his pocket. - Especially in a thread dedicated to triviality.
It is a particularly fine specimen of the genus Juglandaceae, given to Alexander the Great by his father Philip of Macedon before he departed to conquer Asia. I acquired it from an Iranian antiquities trader who says that it has been in his family for centuries but that owning to current circumstances in his beleaguered country he was forced to sell it to me at a tiny fraction of its real worth. I'm offering it to you for a marginal markup to cover my own costs only.
I already ate its twin, and can attest that it was in very good condition and quite nutty.
@moonbus saidIn all honesty sir, it sounds a little on the expensive side to feed to our squirrel. (Though I do, naturally, salute its heritage).
"Suspicious" ?? My, what a devious mind you have.
It is a particularly fine specimen of the genus Juglandaceae, given to Alexander the Great by his father Philip of Macedon before he departed to conquer Asia. I acquired it from an Iranian antiquities trader who says that it has been in his family for centuries but that owning to current circumstances in his b ...[text shortened]... only.
I already ate its twin, and can attest that it was in very good condition and quite nutty.