[Trunk Monkey]

Woot! :headbang:

Average speed across the country was over 98mph and they did it in 28:50:28. The old record, set in 2006, was 31 hours 4 minutes.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/new-york-los-angeles-cannonball-speed-record/

More on the record setting run here: http://jalopnik.com/meet-the-guy-who-drove-across-the-u-s-in-a-record-28-h-1454092837

I spotted this story over at SCCoA where there's already an interesting discussion about it ongoing.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132006

 

[modularbird]

28 hr street race...lol Holy crap. I cant even sit through an endurance race on forza...:tongue:

 

[MadMikeyL]

I posted it there and not here due to the rules about no street racing, I figured it would be frowned upon, but since a moderator posted it, I guess we're good!

I for one find it very impressive. Since hearing about Alex Roy's record, trying to beat it has been on my bucket list. I thought I might stand a chance of beating that, but I think this record will stand for a long time. But then again, records are made to be broken, so we'll see.

 

[ricklovin93]

So who wants to be the first mn-12 owner to run in the cannonball?? lol

 

[MadMikeyL]

I want to be, no question about that, but the record is becoming harder and harder to beat. My own personal long-distance record was from Savannah GA to my home in NJ, in 9h46m, which at just over 800mi was an average speed of 82mph. To break this record would basically mean averaging at least 15mph faster than that, and sustaining it for 3.5 times the distance. That would be EXTREMELY difficult, and as much as I would like to do it, I really am not sure that I am up to the task. One thing I will say that bothers me, I kind of feel like the record for crossing the US SHOULD be held by an american car, and with the exception of the first run by Brock Yates in a Dodge van, no american car has ever held the record.

 

[JLangton2]

28 hr street race...lol Holy crap. I cant even sit through an endurance race on forza...:tongue:

Just play Forza 3, and just hire a driver xD

 

[Tbird1997]

I want to be, no question about that, but the record is becoming harder and harder to beat. My own personal long-distance record was from Savannah GA to my home in NJ, in 9h46m, which at just over 800mi was an average speed of 82mph. To break this record would basically mean averaging at least 15mph faster than that, and sustaining it for 3.5 times the distance. That would be EXTREMELY difficult, and as much as I would like to do it, I really am not sure that I am up to the task. One thing I will say that bothers me, I kind of feel like the record for crossing the US SHOULD be held by an american car, and with the exception of the first run by Brock Yates in a Dodge van, no american car has ever held the record.

That's kinda sad lol. Although driving at 130 mph in my moms 2012 335is Beamer vs. an 02 mustang, 04 vette, 66 cobra, and 118ish in a thunderbird the Beamer wins by a land slide as far as comfort and stability. I'm thinking only a vette would be considered although if it's not getting good mpgs at 90mph+ then it's out. Wonder if the new SHO would be a good choice...

 

[Mgino96tbird46]

I'd so do it if it meant that I wouldn't get pulled over and ticketed and/or arrested. With my current driving record, they'd throw my butt in jail at record breaking speeds! lol

 

[transtech520]

I thought my record wasn't bad 55 hors from Baltimore md.to phoenix az..... sorry to say this but was in a Camaro....by the way go no speeding tickets but compared to the new record mine is slow as hell

 

[GottaHaveHart]

I'd so do it if it meant that I wouldn't get pulled over and ticketed and/or arrested. With my current driving record, they'd throw my butt in jail at record breaking speeds! lol

Just stay out of Ohio and you should be okay!

 

[MadMikeyL]

Well it has been broken again!

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Erwin, Brock and Steve would be proud!

 

[Grog6]

That's awesome; I'd love to try that sometime, in an MN12, of course.

My personal best was 60 miles to work in ~30 minutes, during the 08 recession.

 

[MadMikeyL]

My personal best short run was home from my cousin's house, which is about 25 miles, mostly on 2-lane county roads with a 40mph speed limit in 17 minutes. My best long-distance one was Savannah GA back home to NJ, which is just over 800 miles, in 9h47m. I would love to make the run one day, but I no longer have much hope that I could come close to beating the record. When Alex Roy did it in 06, I thought I stood a chance of beating it if I tried. When Ed did it in 13, I thought it could probably be beat one day, but not by me. Now that they shaved an hour and a half off that time, I'm tapped out for sure.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Wow, they must have mapped a hell of a route to get around cops and traffic. My personal best ... I honestly can't remember the time but it was a Sunday run from Northern Ohio back home to NC back in the 1990's ... in a time before the Interstate gridlock that the country has today.

 

[MadMikeyL]

Well that was short-lived! New time is 26:38

 

[S4gunn]

2904 miles(ish) in 26:38 hrs
This means they clocked an average speed of 109MPH for the entire 26 hours. That's including fuel stops and driving in/out of the NYC and LA metro areas.

Assuming that car does 27MPG (2019 Audi A8L), they burned at a minimum 107.55Gal. At that speed/RPMs, I'm gonna ssume they burned closer to the city MPG of 19MPG or 152gallons or worse.

Looking in the trunk, they had a 21.7 gal tank and (4) fuel cells.
Just eyeballing it, I think those are 22-24Gal fuel cells (Ed Bolian had 22 gal ones in his Mercedes when he did his run). Best case scenario, they were hauling 118 gallons of fuel... probably less.

Here's Bolian with a new, 75 gal custom tank. The full sized luxobarges have similar sized trunks so there's probably no more room to put more than 90-100 gallons max into the vehicle.

Project S55 Build

So what does it take to put a humpty dumpty S class back together? The TL;DR answer: a lot. 3/4/15 – A few weeks ago I picked up a non-running 2002 Mercedes S55 project car. I bought the car to have as an interesting project and to build a cheaper version of the CL55 Cannonball car, […]

edbolian.com

In any case, they were carrying just enough to make it a 1 stop challenge. You could probably speed up the refill by having a pit crew (not respecting social distancing) prefill extra dump cans that they could use to refill the aux tank while the main tank is refilling and while the driving crew takes a 5 min bio break.

---
I'm amazed at the fairly small venn diagram combination of traits required for a contender:
You need both a) money required for such a logistical challenge coupled with b) the DGAF attitude where you would be willing to risk all of your assets for internet glory (and public condemnation). Anyone who has the cash to blow on such a project (vehicle, prep, logistics/support, etc) probably also has assets (house, business/public image which could be damaged by public condemnation) that they are putting on the line. For what?

I'd prefer if these nutjobs took it to offshore racing, bonneville, or something else where the most likely thing they are risking are their own necks.

 

[S4gunn]

My personal best short run was home from my cousin's house, which is about 25 miles, mostly on 2-lane county roads with a 40mph speed limit in 17 minutes. My best long-distance one was Savannah GA back home to NJ, which is just over 800 miles, in 9h47m. I would love to make the run one day, but I no longer have much hope that I could come close to beating the record. When Alex Roy did it in 06, I thought I stood a chance of beating it if I tried. When Ed did it in 13, I thought it could probably be beat one day, but not by me. Now that they shaved an hour and a half off that time, I'm tapped out for sure.

Spirit Airlines will get you from NYC to LAX for $30 right now (if they survive until June). You'd have plenty of time for an Uber from RedBall Garage to LGA and LAX to Portofino Inn.

https://www.expedia.com/Flights-Search?trip=oneway&leg1=from:LGA,to:LAX,departure:6/13/2020TANYT&passengers=children:0,adults:1,seniors:0,infantinlap:N&mode=search&options=sortby:price&paandi=true&flp=mdl:flights-flex-module,price:29.58

 

[MadMikeyL]

Certainly that is the logical way to get from Red Ball to Portofino in the fastest time possible. The point of it though is the challenge. Certainly in Ed Bolian's case, he didn't spend anywhere near the amount of money that Doug and Arne did, and he had a lot less to lose at that time than some of the people who have tried to beat him since. Personally, I've always had a fascination with the cannonball, and long distance speed runs in general, so I still want to try the run just to see how fast I could make it, but I wouldn't even try to beat any of the newer records.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Agreed. Its not about the destinations, and there is nothing fun about flying cross country whatsoever. I find the Cannonball a far more interesting race than any sanctioned circuit race. Same reason I just don't care to own a Tesla, no chance to set a Cannonball record with one

I just wish it wasnt such a jetset rich boy challenge, its like the highly illegal American version of climbing Mt. Everest.