Home and Auto "Cannonball" speed record shattered. NY to LA in under 29 hrs - Page 3

Deberg_1990 · 11-01-2013, 01:06 PM

Averaged 90Mph. I'm guessing these guys broke a few laws?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/new...html?hpt=hp_c3

(CNN) -- Before the transcontinental race in "Cannonball Run," the starter tells the gathered racers, "You all are certainly the most distinguished group of highway scofflaws and degenerates ever gathered together in one place."
Ed Bolian prefers the term "fraternity of lunatics."
Where the 1981 Burt Reynolds classic was a comedic twist on a race inspired by real-life rebellion over the mandated 55-mph speed limits of the 1970s, Bolian set out on a serious mission to beat the record for driving from New York to Los Angeles.
The mark? Alex Roy and David Maher's cross-country record of 31 hours and 4 minutes, which they set in a modified BMW M5 in 2006.
Bolian, a 28-year-old Atlanta native, had long dreamed of racing from East Coast to West. A decade ago, for a high school assignment, Bolian interviewed Brock Yates, who conceived the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, aka the Cannonball Run.
Yates, who played the previously quoted organizer in the film he wrote himself, won the first Cannonball in the early 1970s with a time of 35 hours and 53 minutes.
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"I told him, 'One day I'd like to beat your record,' " Bolian recalled.
Ounce of prevention
It sounds like great outlaw fun -- and certainly, Hollywood added its embellishments, like the supremely confident, infidel-cursing sheik with a Rolls Royce and Sammy Davis Jr. in a priest getup -- but Bolian said it took considerable research and groundwork.
Beginning in 2009, about the time he started working for Lamborghini Atlanta, Bolian researched cars, routes, moon phases, traffic patterns, equipment, gas mileage and modifications.
He went into preparation mode about 18 months ago and chose a Mercedes CL55 AMG with 115,000 miles for the journey. The Benz's gas tank was only 23 gallons, so he added two 22-gallon tanks in the trunk, upping his range to about 800 miles. The spare tire had to go in the backseat with his spotter, Dan Huang, a student at Georgia Tech, Bolian's alma mater.
To foil the police, he installed a switch to kill the rear lights and bought two laser jammers and three radar detectors. He commissioned a radar jammer, but it wasn't finished in time for the trek. There was also a police scanner, two GPS units and various chargers for smartphones and tablets -- not to mention snacks, iced coffee and a bedpan.
By the time he tricked out the Benz, which included a $9,000 tuneup, "it was a real space station of a thing," he said, describing the lights and screens strewn through the car's cockpit.
Yet he still wasn't done.
"The hardest thing, quite honestly, was finding people crazy enough to do it with me," he said.
Co-driver Dave Black, one of the Atlanta Lamborghini dealership's customers, didn't sign on until three days before they left, and "support passenger" Huang didn't get involved until about 18 hours before the team left Atlanta for Manhattan.
If his difficulty finding a copilot wasn't an omen, Manhattan would deliver one. While scouting routes out of the city, a GPS unit told Bolian to take a right on red, in the wrong direction down a one-way road. He was quickly pulled over.
Bolian got a warning -- and a healthy dose of relief that the officer didn't question the thick odor of fuel as he stood over the vents pumping fumes from the trunk.
Record run begins
The trio ignored what some might have considered a harbinger and the left the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street, the starting point for Yates' Cannonball, a few hours later. To be exact, they left October 19 at 9:55 p.m., according to a tracking company whose officials asked not be identified because they were unaware that Bolian would be driving so illegally when he hired them.
It really isn't something we need a whole band of lunatics doing.
Ed Bolian
They hit a patch of traffic in New York that held them up for 15 minutes but soon had an average speed of about 90 mph. In Pennsylvania, they tapped the first of many scouts, one of Bolian's acquaintances who drove the speed limit 150 to 200 miles ahead of the CL55 and warned them of any police, construction or other problems.
They blew through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, hitting St. Louis before dawn.
"Everything possible went perfect," Bolian said, explaining they never got lost and rarely encountered traffic or construction delays.
By the time they hit southern Missouri, near the Oklahoma border, they learned they were "on track to break the existing record if they averaged the speed limit for the rest of the trip," he said.
Yeah, right. This wasn't about doing speed limits.
They kept humming west, and as they neared the Texas-New Mexico border, they calculated they might beat the 30-hour mark, a sort of Holy Grail in transcontinental racing that Bolian likened to the 4-minute mile.
Not one to settle, "we decided to break 29," Bolian said.
The unnamed tracking company says the Benz pulled into the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California, at 11:46 p.m. on October 20 after driving 2,803 miles. The total time: 28 hours, 50 minutes and about 30 seconds.
"Most of the time, we weren't going insanely fast," Bolian said, not realizing his definition of "insanely" is a little different from most folks'.
When they were moving, which, impressively, was all but 46 minutes of the trip, they were averaging around 100 mph. Their total average was 98 mph, and their top speed was 158 mph, according to an onboard tracking device.
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"Apart from a FedEx truck not checking his mirrors before he tried to merge on top of me, we didn't really have any issues," Bolian said.
Do not try this at home
He concedes his endeavor was a dangerous one, especially when you consider Bolian slept only 40 minutes of the trip, and co-driver Black slept an hour. But Bolian went out of his way to make it as safe as possible, choosing a weekend day with clear weather and a full moon -- and routes, when possible, with little traffic or construction.
"I had plenty of people at home praying I'd make it safely, and, more importantly, had my wife praying that I wouldn't have to do it again," he said, adding he has no children, which was also a factor. "That was one of the spurs to go ahead and get this over with. That's probably the next adventure."
Asked if the technological advances since the previous record holders made their run gave him an advantage, Bolian replied, "Absolutely." Because two teams broke the 32-hour mark in 2006 and 2007, he had a detailed "guide book" on how to do it, where they had to rely on word-of-mouth tales from the 1980s.
"I thank Alex for that. We're all adding chapters to the same story of American car culture," Bolian said. Alex Roy did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Bolian had hoped to revisit that high school interview and tell Yates he'd followed through on that promise to break his record, but Yates now suffers from Alzheimer's.
"I'll pay him a visit just for the sake of it," Bolian said, "but I can't tell him."
Where the Cannonball scofflaws aimed to make a statement about personal freedom, Bolian said he has the utmost respect for law enforcement. His goal was merely to "add myself and pay tribute to this chapter of automotive history," he said.
Bolian also hopes that he shattered Roy's record by such a stark margin that it discourages would-be Cannonballers from attempting to break his record, and it's not just a matter of his own legacy, he said.
"It really isn't something we need a whole band of lunatics doing," he said.

Strongside · 11-01-2013, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevieray

good tunes! don't forget the good tunes!

I think that any drive over 15 hours is where music becomes irrelevant. I think you could hear every song in your collection in that time...and it's all just a blur afterward. Tunnel vision sets in. As Macho Man Randy Savage once said "Do not go down that lonesome highway."

stevieray · 11-01-2013, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strongside

I think that any drive over 15 hours is where music becomes irrelevant. I think you could hear every song in your collection in that time...and it's all just a blur afterward. Tunnel vision sets in. As Macho Man Randy Savage once said "Do not go down that lonesome highway."

we also take comedian mp3's on road trips

BlackHelicopters · 11-01-2013, 04:28 PM

Sam Kinison and Dave Attell are must have road trip CD's.

**The Franchise** · 11-01-2013, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frazod

I started getting tired around sunset in western Pennsylvania. Washed down a box of NoDoz with a Mountain Dew and kept going. I was pretty twitchy by the time I got to Illinois, but made it unscathed. Got to my aunt's house around 5:30 a.m., slept for about 3 hours, and then was wide awake for the rest of the day.

Ah, to be young again.

Yeah....I was 22 when I did it. And my friend was along for the ride. I'm pretty sure I went through a 12 pack of Mountain Dew and 2 packs of cigarettes in that 20 hour period.

**SAUTO** · 11-01-2013, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Looks like Richard Rawlings has another car to buy for his Cannonball collection.

He was the record holder. Bet he's crying now...
Posted via Mobile Device

Discuss Thrower · 11-01-2013, 04:54 PM

Hattiesburgh to Joplin in around 7.5 to 8 hours... Car GPS said 11 and Google says 9.

**SAUTO** · 11-01-2013, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

San fran to KC in 36 hours straight through no stops. We went through idaho and montana as well.

I figured diapers were your regular attire
Posted via Mobile Device

**007** · 11-02-2013, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

San fran to KC in 36 hours straight through no stops. We went through idaho and montana as well.

where did you store your urine?

Dayze · 11-02-2013, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevieray

I rode a Honda Nighthawk non stop from Phoenix to Denver..left at 4 am..arrived at 8pm..

....last hour was brutal.

wow. That's a haul no matter what you ride.

Dayze · 11-02-2013, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strongside

I think that any drive over 15 hours is where music becomes irrelevant. I think you could hear every song in your collection in that time...and it's all just a blur afterward. Tunnel vision sets in. As Macho Man Randy Savage once said "Do not go down that lonesome highway."

when I drove from Fresno to Fort Colins when I was discharged, I was damn near hallucinating; having run out of CDs. this was in 2000. went through them all probably twice.

I remember waking up at 2:30 am not being able to sleep. THinking "man...i wish I could go back to sleep'....then realizing my discharge leave started at 00:00. So I said **** it; had my sea bag packed already. Brushed my teeth and out I went. I was hyped up/ecstatic I was out so that was fueling a ton of my energy

Chief Roundup · 11-02-2013, 07:19 AM

So how are you guys getting this great gas mileage to where you are non-stop from point A to point B?

whoman69 · 11-02-2013, 07:43 AM

Cannonball Run (1981) stole the idea from Gumball Rally (1976)

Great job in Gumball Rally from Raul Julia and Gary Busey before they were famous.

whoman69 · 11-02-2013, 07:46 AM

Best line from Gumball Rally

Franco: And now my friend, the first-a rule of Italian driving.
[Franco rips off his rear-view mirror and throws it out of the car]
Franco: What's-a behind me is not important.

**MahiMike** · 11-02-2013, 07:55 AM

This is so friggin' awesome! A classic movie brought to life. Now if we could only bring Farrah Fawcett back to life...)

siberian khatru · 11-02-2013, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayze

when I drove from Fresno to Fort Colins when I was discharged, I was damn near hallucinating; having run out of CDs. this was in 2000. went through them all probably twice.

I remember waking up at 2:30 am not being able to sleep. THinking "man...i wish I could go back to sleep'....then realizing my discharge leave started at 00:00. So I said **** it; had my sea bag packed already. Brushed my teeth and out I went. I was hyped up/ecstatic I was out so that was fueling a ton of my energy

Vanishing Point

11-01-2013, 01:06 PM
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $3914454	"Cannonball" speed record shattered. NY to LA in under 29 hrs Averaged 90Mph. I'm guessing these guys broke a few laws? http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/new...html?hpt=hp_c3 (CNN) -- Before the transcontinental race in "Cannonball Run," the starter tells the gathered racers, "You all are certainly the most distinguished group of highway scofflaws and degenerates ever gathered together in one place." Ed Bolian prefers the term "fraternity of lunatics." Where the 1981 Burt Reynolds classic was a comedic twist on a race inspired by real-life rebellion over the mandated 55-mph speed limits of the 1970s, Bolian set out on a serious mission to beat the record for driving from New York to Los Angeles. The mark? Alex Roy and David Maher's cross-country record of 31 hours and 4 minutes, which they set in a modified BMW M5 in 2006. Bolian, a 28-year-old Atlanta native, had long dreamed of racing from East Coast to West. A decade ago, for a high school assignment, Bolian interviewed Brock Yates, who conceived the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, aka the Cannonball Run. Yates, who played the previously quoted organizer in the film he wrote himself, won the first Cannonball in the early 1970s with a time of 35 hours and 53 minutes. Alleged Manhattan speed demon arrested A helping hand from Ferrari Incredible footage of D.C. car chase Pakistan trend: Bullet-proof cars "I told him, 'One day I'd like to beat your record,' " Bolian recalled. Ounce of prevention It sounds like great outlaw fun -- and certainly, Hollywood added its embellishments, like the supremely confident, infidel-cursing sheik with a Rolls Royce and Sammy Davis Jr. in a priest getup -- but Bolian said it took considerable research and groundwork. Beginning in 2009, about the time he started working for Lamborghini Atlanta, Bolian researched cars, routes, moon phases, traffic patterns, equipment, gas mileage and modifications. He went into preparation mode about 18 months ago and chose a Mercedes CL55 AMG with 115,000 miles for the journey. The Benz's gas tank was only 23 gallons, so he added two 22-gallon tanks in the trunk, upping his range to about 800 miles. The spare tire had to go in the backseat with his spotter, Dan Huang, a student at Georgia Tech, Bolian's alma mater. To foil the police, he installed a switch to kill the rear lights and bought two laser jammers and three radar detectors. He commissioned a radar jammer, but it wasn't finished in time for the trek. There was also a police scanner, two GPS units and various chargers for smartphones and tablets -- not to mention snacks, iced coffee and a bedpan. By the time he tricked out the Benz, which included a $9,000 tuneup, "it was a real space station of a thing," he said, describing the lights and screens strewn through the car's cockpit. Yet he still wasn't done. "The hardest thing, quite honestly, was finding people crazy enough to do it with me," he said. Co-driver Dave Black, one of the Atlanta Lamborghini dealership's customers, didn't sign on until three days before they left, and "support passenger" Huang didn't get involved until about 18 hours before the team left Atlanta for Manhattan. If his difficulty finding a copilot wasn't an omen, Manhattan would deliver one. While scouting routes out of the city, a GPS unit told Bolian to take a right on red, in the wrong direction down a one-way road. He was quickly pulled over. Bolian got a warning -- and a healthy dose of relief that the officer didn't question the thick odor of fuel as he stood over the vents pumping fumes from the trunk. Record run begins The trio ignored what some might have considered a harbinger and the left the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street, the starting point for Yates' Cannonball, a few hours later. To be exact, they left October 19 at 9:55 p.m., according to a tracking company whose officials asked not be identified because they were unaware that Bolian would be driving so illegally when he hired them. It really isn't something we need a whole band of lunatics doing. Ed Bolian They hit a patch of traffic in New York that held them up for 15 minutes but soon had an average speed of about 90 mph. In Pennsylvania, they tapped the first of many scouts, one of Bolian's acquaintances who drove the speed limit 150 to 200 miles ahead of the CL55 and warned them of any police, construction or other problems. They blew through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, hitting St. Louis before dawn. "Everything possible went perfect," Bolian said, explaining they never got lost and rarely encountered traffic or construction delays. By the time they hit southern Missouri, near the Oklahoma border, they learned they were "on track to break the existing record if they averaged the speed limit for the rest of the trip," he said. Yeah, right. This wasn't about doing speed limits. They kept humming west, and as they neared the Texas-New Mexico border, they calculated they might beat the 30-hour mark, a sort of Holy Grail in transcontinental racing that Bolian likened to the 4-minute mile. Not one to settle, "we decided to break 29," Bolian said. The unnamed tracking company says the Benz pulled into the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California, at 11:46 p.m. on October 20 after driving 2,803 miles. The total time: 28 hours, 50 minutes and about 30 seconds. "Most of the time, we weren't going insanely fast," Bolian said, not realizing his definition of "insanely" is a little different from most folks'. When they were moving, which, impressively, was all but 46 minutes of the trip, they were averaging around 100 mph. Their total average was 98 mph, and their top speed was 158 mph, according to an onboard tracking device. Nearly $18M palace has Ferrari room First flying car to go on sale in 2015 Racing Cuba's classic cars Scary crash ends 100 mph police chase "Apart from a FedEx truck not checking his mirrors before he tried to merge on top of me, we didn't really have any issues," Bolian said. Do not try this at home He concedes his endeavor was a dangerous one, especially when you consider Bolian slept only 40 minutes of the trip, and co-driver Black slept an hour. But Bolian went out of his way to make it as safe as possible, choosing a weekend day with clear weather and a full moon -- and routes, when possible, with little traffic or construction. "I had plenty of people at home praying I'd make it safely, and, more importantly, had my wife praying that I wouldn't have to do it again," he said, adding he has no children, which was also a factor. "That was one of the spurs to go ahead and get this over with. That's probably the next adventure." Asked if the technological advances since the previous record holders made their run gave him an advantage, Bolian replied, "Absolutely." Because two teams broke the 32-hour mark in 2006 and 2007, he had a detailed "guide book" on how to do it, where they had to rely on word-of-mouth tales from the 1980s. "I thank Alex for that. We're all adding chapters to the same story of American car culture," Bolian said. Alex Roy did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Bolian had hoped to revisit that high school interview and tell Yates he'd followed through on that promise to break his record, but Yates now suffers from Alzheimer's. "I'll pay him a visit just for the sake of it," Bolian said, "but I can't tell him." Where the Cannonball scofflaws aimed to make a statement about personal freedom, Bolian said he has the utmost respect for law enforcement. His goal was merely to "add myself and pay tribute to this chapter of automotive history," he said. Bolian also hopes that he shattered Roy's record by such a stark margin that it discourages would-be Cannonballers from attempting to break his record, and it's not just a matter of his own legacy, he said. "It really isn't something we need a whole band of lunatics doing," he said.
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11-01-2013, 04:28 PM	#33
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11-01-2013, 04:54 PM	#36
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11-02-2013, 07:19 AM	#41
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11-02-2013, 07:55 AM	#44
MahiMike He's Mahomie! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Jax, FL Casino cash: $10023443	This is so friggin' awesome! A classic movie brought to life. Now if we could only bring Farrah Fawcett back to life...) __________________ 99.9%
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