The Nissan Leaf has broken the record for the fastest car over a mile in reverse.

The record was set by professional stunt driver Terry Grant on the Goodwood hillclimb course at the Festival of Speed, covering the distance in 1m 37.02s at an average speed of 55mph.

Grant said the Leaf’s direct drive from the electric motor to its wheels means that in theory, it can go as fast backwards as it can forwards.

The Leaf Reverse Record is part of Nissan’s social media-driven campaign, ‘The Big Turn On’, which is spreading the electric vehicle message across Europe using social media channels and aimed to get one million consumers switched onto electric driving, in 100 days.

The one million ‘turn ons’ target was achieved on the June 21, 15 days ahead of the original target.

You can view one of Grant's attempts at the record below: