New York dance company, Pilobolus Dance, have become Guinness Record Holders after successfully fitting 26 people in a BMW MINI. A standard MINI Hatchback was used for the record attempt, which was held at the EMC Guinness Record Breaking Event yesterday in New York.

EMC are one of the world’s leading providers of IT infrastructure and storage solutions and yesterday’s event was the first of a three-continent tour to launch a new generation of storage solutions. As part of these events, attendees will witness daredevil and other attempts to break several Guinness World Records — all with a storage twist.

According to the Guinness World Records site, this ‘Most people crammed in a Mini’ record was first registered on December 16, 2010, but yesterday’s attempt earned the Pilobolus Dance company a formal certificate presented by Guinness representative Danny Gurton.

Previous record attempts

The New Zealand All Star Cheerleaders smashed the previous record, fitting 24 of their supple team members into a Mini Cooper D.

The previous Guinness Record was set by 24 members of the New Zealand Allstar Cheerleading Team in Auckland, New Zealand on 25 July 2009. The team comprised 23 girls and 1 (lucky?) guy who remained crammed in a new MINI Cooper D for 5 seconds.

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Despite failing to achieve their target of 25 people in a MINI, the event donated all proceeds to the charity "Vision" which helps blind and visually impaired children all around the world.

Back in December 2009, Staff from Kingston Technology and Currys in Croydon, Surrey decided to try to break the world record, however they were five short of taking the record managing to fit ‘only’ 21 people in the MINI.

In June 2006 a successful attempt was made by the Mini 10 Pulgada Sport Club (Spanish Mini Club of Aragon) who took the title by fitting an amazing 22 people into a New BMW MINI. The event took place on 11 June 2006, complying with all the requirements laid down by Guinness World Records.

The club was inspired to take part in the challenge when Club President and engineer Ignacio Sanchez Diaz-Calderon and fellow member and engineer Daniel Monge Gonzalvo were challenged to give it a try.

The first registered world record for the BMW MINI was recorded in September 2004, TV presenter Kate Clarke while hosting ATHENS ON LOCATION for Sprint/NBC in Athens, during the Greece Olympics, filmed 21 students fitting into ONE Mini-Cooper. The students came from around the world and set the Guinness World Record on a warm late-summer’s evening.

As the 2004 Olympic Games moved into its final days, the world MINI-cramming record was broken when 21 people worked their way into a MINI Cooper at the Galea Club in Athens. The Galea Club was MINI's Athens base and was the venue for the debut of MINI's XXL stretch limo.

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Yeah, but a BMW MINI isn’t the same as a ‘real’ Mini is it?

But, for the purists amongst us the burning question is, “how does this compare to records set with the original Issignosis-designed Mini?” Well, back in May 4, 2000, a total of 17 women from Reading Ladies Rugby Team, crammed into a Mini Cooper on the set of Guinness World Records in London, UK beating the WASPS Ladies Rugby Team who managed to fit it only 16 (click below to open the video).

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That record was then improved upon by a group of Malaysian students on 17 June 2006, when 21 of them took just four minutes to pile into the lime green 1999 Mini Cooper, with two wedged into the car’s boot.

The Mini’s doors were then shut, and the students from the college in Kuala Lumpur sweated out the mandatory 20 seconds to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

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Guinness World Records started in 1954 when researchers Norris and Ross McWhirter were commissioned by the Managing Director of Guinness to write a Worlds Records book following a dispute over game birds.

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