Taking advantage of those open roads... https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a32092440/26-hour-38-minute-cannonball-record-coronavirus/ Image Unavailable, Please Login
LMAO at all of the blissninnies, effectively saying that it would have been MUCH more responsible to drive at high speeds when there is much more traffic on the roads. These runs have a better safety record that having dirt on a Clinton.
funny, when talk of a CV19 slowdown induced cannonball record started going around a few weeks ago, I thought a white or silver Audi S8 would be a great car to do it in. maybe I should take this up as a hobby. FWIW, "normal" attempts are usually done in the fall, because a) traffic volumes are lower as school is back in session and b) road construction is winding down in states with harsh winters. IMO that's taking advantage of the situation, though not to the degree this is.
I organized what I called the ''Beachball Rally" back in the '80s... from NYC's Battery Park overlooking the Statue of Liberty to Montauk Point. That was fun, but it seems the expressway and roads out east are littered with patrol cars now.
I don’t agree with Ed’s argument at all. There is something more to this story. Whoever just broke the record isn’t part of their clique or has some sort of bad blood with Bolian, et al.
IMO, this story should not be dignified by a posting in the "Other Racing" thread. It hardly qualifies as either a race or a "Cannonball" record...just some idiot taking advantage of mostly deserted roads (has anyone here tried racing into congested LA) during a pandemic to claim an unverified cross country record time. As I've posted in other threads on the topic, I raced in the original 1971 Cannonball (3rd place, 36:56). It was a real race, verified by time stamped cards at both the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan and the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach (not by taking a photo of a car at both locations). For instance, I passed Dan Gurney's winning Ferrari in a blinding hail storm and we raced nose to tail in ice and rain conditions at speeds over 110 mph through the state of New Mexico. We diced with the 2nd place car (Le Mans, Trans Am and Can Am veterans) all the way into LA (we lost the race by 9 minutes). Without 6 police stops, 2 arrests at gunpoint, a court appearance and a police escort to a county line, beating the alleged times claimed by these solo dudes and all their modern technology (forget GPS, fuel cells and radar jammers, some even had plane spotters) would have been cake. But this guy's claiming a recored in a pandemic, gimme a break!
This whole 'asterisk' thing surrounding the recent Cannonball record is silly. First and foremost the Cannonball has perhaps the simplest set of rules in all of Motorsport (if you even want to call it that). The start and end points are known and beyond that there are NO OTHER RULES. As such the new record holders set the record fair and square despite some bleeding hearts painting a picture of opportunism because of the current situation. That said I do have a problem with the current state of affairs of how a competitive Cannonball effort is staged. I think that there is too much outside assistance and there is too great a reliance on technology. If the Cannonball is to be a true outlaw event and if it were to fit the spirit of the original I believe that the record should be set under a different set of rules. Keep the start and end points the same but mandate (based on an honor system) that the vehicle to be used is as delivered by the manufacturer with no additional aids. No radar detectors, Wayze, Spotters calling you, larger gas tanks, thermal scopes, etc. The skill then lies totally in the hands of the crew (as many as there are seat belts in the car) and part of the art is choosing a car that was manufactured with the best balance of power, fuel economy, stealthiness, etc. To me that would be a true Cannonball and a much bigger test of intestinal fortitude.
No I'm just suggesting that moving forwards it may be time to look at new rules for this venture. I accept any record under the current 'rules'. This happens all the time in sport with some records becoming impossible to beat because of rule changes.
Solo record broken https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a32917037/a-man-drove-solo-across-america-in-25-hours-55-minutes-in-a-rental-mustang/
