Travis Pastrana set a Guinness World Record on New Year’s Eve with a 269-foot jump across the Pacific Ocean in a rally car and landing on a floating barge. More than 35,000 people attended the event which was watched by millions more on ESPN.

He smashed the previous record of 171 feet set by DC Shoes co-founder Ken Block in November 2006 and made it look easy, finishing up in a tyre wall constructed on the barge.

Travis Pastrana: the new record holder for world’s longest rally car jump

Pastrana celebrated his record by ascending to the ramp’s highest point, saluting the massive crowd, then black-flipping into the Pacific Ocean.

“When I used to say I was going to do something, everyone would say, ‘Don’t do it. That’s crazy! That’s dumb! And they’d try to talk me out of it,” Pastrana says. “Now, I say I’m going to do something like jump a car onto a barge and they say, ‘Cool. You’ll be fine. You’re Travis Pastrana. It will work.’

Somehow I’ve built this reputation as being better than I actually am. It’s an amazing position to be in, because when I have an idea, people are willing to take a risk to help me make it possible. But it’s also very scary, because I have to think things through a lot more now.”

As it turns out, it’s very difficult to jump a car, … “If it goes well, it goes really well. If it goes bad, it goes really bad”

– Travis Pastrana

“I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution,” Pastrana says. “I don’t need the extra motivation. I live my life every day as best I can.” And if he wants to change something, he doesn’t wait until January 1. “I get that from my dad,” he says. “If he bought me a cool Christmas gift, he’d give it to me that day. He’d say, ‘What if I waited to give you this bike and it snowed the day after Christmas and you couldn’t ride it? Why wait for Christmas?”

But if he were to make a resolution today? “It would be to do less,” he says. “Lately, I’m always tired and sore and hurt.” So, less is more? “I couldn’t do it,” he says, rethinking his resolution. “I’d be bored by next week.”

What a hero.

You can watch a video of his record jump above.

Interview quotes: ESPN

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