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Cannonball Record Broken During Coronavirus - 26 Hours 38 Minutes:
Only a few months have passed since we reported that the New York-to-Los Angeles Cannonball record was broken. It's allegedly been broken again. The 26 hour, 38 minute time—which beats the record set in November by more than 45 minutes—appears to be legitimate, according to Ed Bolian, a Cannonball insider and driver who set his own 28 hour, 50 minute record in 2013. Alex Roy, who set the first modern NYC-to-LA record in 2006, also said the new claim is credible based on his analysis of multiple sources.
"It was not me," Bolian was quick to point out to Road & Track, eager to quell an Internet-generated rumor that perhaps he had been the one to pull it off.
[...] All we know about this new set of scofflaws is that there were three, maybe four of them, and that they were driving a white 2019 Audi A8 sedan with a pair of red plastic marine fuel tanks ratchet-strapped into its trunk. They started at the Red Ball Garage in New York City at 11:15 pm on April 4, and ended less than 27 hours later at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California, the traditional start and end points of a Cannonball attempt.
We also know that their timing was awful. It doesn't seem likely that the new record-holders were keen to have news reach the public so soon, especially at a time when so many people are understandably on edge. But an exuberant friend posted a picture of the Audi on Facebook this week—situated among a number of other high-dollar cars, with its trunk open to show the auxiliary fuel tanks—along with the team's alleged time. Within a day, hundreds of people had shared the post, and social media chat groups were abuzz with Cannonball aficionados offering up opinions on the matter. (The Facebook post has since been removed; it's reproduced here via screengrab.)
"Do I think this is the best use of time while the country is staying in during a pandemic?" Bolian asked in an interview with R&T. "Probably not, but for me to say it's awful is like a cocaine dealer saying a heroin dealer is awful."
Also at NYTimes
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2020, @08:04PM (1 child)
Actually, your YouTube link to all the accidents tends to support my point that the Interstates are pretty safe. Only a few of the scenes shown were on divided Interstate highways. Most were surface streets, a few with snow or other bad weather (which is avoided by Cannonballers). The video makers had to dig pretty deep, even selecting several commercial vehicles that appeared to lose brakes--I nearly got squashed by a dump truck at the bottom of a steep hill like this--but none of these apply to Interstate traffic.
Of the Interstate accidents, one seemed likely to be loss of control by an inexperienced driver, the one passing on the left shoulder that got off into the median and was launched by the bridge approach. Similar for the one that went down the right shoulder and hit the parked vehicle. A couple of others were driving against traffic, another bone head move.
While perhaps not universally true, Cannonballers often have racing experience and/or high performance driver training. During an attempt they are hyper alert, focused on driving, not their phones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @06:25PM
The video I chose wasn't intended to show that interstates are safe or not. The interstates are generally safe because there are speed limits with respect the conditions of the road, physics, and the skills of the average driver. (No, I don't really care about the comparisons to the Autobahn. It is what it is, and the US Freeways are what they are. Replicate the Autobahn here and you would get a different rate because most American drivers are trained stupidly.)
The video was mainly intended what fatal accidents look like. It also shows the obvious point that the higher the speed the less margin for safety. Plus the pretty horrific outcomes that can result because all that extra speed build up extra energy that kills people when it all goes wrong.
How does a cannonballer handle it when someone is coming up the wrong way on the Interstate? Obviously, slow down and avoid if the driver can in time.
And the other point is that accidents can occur even when a driver is hyper alert and focused on their driving. It can happen purely by accident because of a mechanical fault, or it can happen because the other guy does something unexpected and stupid.
It's a stupid idea to try. Period.