Posted on 08/21/2020 5:05:46 AM PDT by tlozo
There's a new record in Cannonball land: Drivers Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt announced today that they completed the cross-country drive from New York City to Los Angeles in 25 hours, 39 minutes, narrowly beating a claimed "sub-26-hour" record publicized in May and besting their own record of 27 hours, 25 minutes that was announced in November 2019. Toman and Tabbutt's November attempt kicked off a spate of copycat record-chasers, many of whom took advantage of reduced traffic during COVID lockdown to set cross-country times that would seem impossible under normal driving conditions. An unnamed trio wedged a giant auxiliary fuel tank in the trunk of an Audi A8 and claimed a 26 hour, 38 minute record in April, and in June, Fred Ashmore took a rental Ford Mustang GT crammed full of fuel tanks to a 25 hour, 55 minute solo record. In a press release, Toman and Tabbutt claim that five new records have been set since their November 2019 run.
Toman and Tabbutt's most recent record seems to have been a spur-of-the-moment decision. In April, Toman's 2015 Mercedes E63—the highly modified car that set the record in November 2019—was badly damaged when a truck crashed into it while it was parked on the side of a highway. Toman replaced it with a 2016 Audi S6, quickly modifying it for Cannonball duty over the course of just a few days.
Vehicle modifications include a 45-gallon trunk-mounted fuel cell and visual changes, like a reshaped front grille with a decoy badge to make the Audi resemble a Ford Taurus-based Police Interceptor when viewed from a distance.
The record was set in early May. The drivers left NYC's Red Ball Garage—the traditional Cannonball starting point—at 6:00 p.m. to cover most of the Midwest at night. Toman claims that they were able to leave Manhattan in just four and a half minutes, and says that the entire trip required five fuel stops totaling 31 minutes. All in, the team claims a moving average speed of 112 mph, or 110 mph including fuel stops. Top speed reached on the run was 175 mph. The team says they were never stopped by police, thanks in part to a network of scouts coordinating with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOWn1WSYhVQ
Making an Audi look like an unmarked cop car Ford Taurus. Genius!
Just like drinking while driving, another relic of the best that is best done away with. Totally reckless idiots endangering countless lives. If one of these morons couldn’t react in time and ran over my child while he was crossing the road, I would personally strangle every one of them in the courtroom in front of the judge. If you want to get your thrills by driving fast, become a nascar driver or go to the local drag strip. Idiots.
And of course, the even cheesier and sillier "The Gumball Rally"...:)
I think I liked "Gumball Rally" better...the cop in it reminded me of the Charles Dreyfus police chief character in the "Pink Panther" movies...:)
Heck...I may watch that again this weekend...:)
Why would your child be on a highway?
They are more likely to kill themselves.
Totally reckless idiots endangering countless lives.
It was interesting to listen to them talk about getting out of NYC. People and bicycles instead of cars, but they didn’t even injure anyone.
I appreciate your point of view, but unless your children are playing on an interstate, there is little risk to them.
And these guys are not your drunk idiots. Most of their high speed antics are in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.
What’s kinda ironic is this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2EeJsF75gs&list=PLCiXi0Azd3pnLx6HloXqyYodbcAHkAQpe
They had pulled their world record cannonball Mercedes off the road (in a previous run) and with cameras rolling, a trucker fell asleep at the wheel and destroyed it.
I had my Chrysler 300m at 142 mph in eastern Montana on I-94 and the only life I was risking was mine.
What helped these guys is that their car looked like a cop car. I’ve spent a lot of time on the interstate highways around the country and I will tell you that trucks trying to pass other trucks will pull out at the last minute right in front of you. I’ve gotten where I drive accordingly (get them to pull out too soon, allowing me to pass them on the right). But when you look like a cop car at high speed, they are very unlikely to do that.
In parts of Montana 120 MPH is considered going too slow.... Lol
If your kid was playing on the freeway...
So there are no children in vehicles anymore?
I actually managed to get a ticket in Montana a couple years ago.
93 in an 80. The Trooper told me it was only because it was dusk and the animals come out to play on the freeway.
I didn’t tell him I’d been doing 105-110 most of the way across the state.
A co-worker and I had an absolutely horrendous rental Infinity SUV.
The judge was very nice and canceled the points for me.
The dangerous person is the one doing 55 MPH or less, bored, not paying strict attention.
The REALLY dangerous person is the one going slow in the fast lane.
Exactly
I love it. It’s awesome that there is still enough “toxic masculinity” to do this.
If there wasn’t there would be no kids at all.
Really stupid and reckless. Why can’t they get their rocks off on the track? It looks like all the Covid related restrictions are really triggering the crackpots and increasing stupid stunts. Everesting in its various forms has become a big thing. But at least they are scratching their own itch rather than endangering others.
Back in the day I was with friends poking along a Montana 2 lane doing 80 mph when a big Cadillac came roaring up and passed us. The cowboy driving had all the windows open and the seat all the way back with his left leg boot up on the dash.
He slowed for a moment and tipped his hat to us then took off like a bat out of hell.
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