RE: Happy 40th, Cannonball Run
Discussion
Graham said:
Charlie Foxtrot said:
Or even just getting through the M6/M5 junction without having to leave 5th gear for a change.
Cough, I have a friend. Cough who got close to vmaxing a chimaera through the m5 m6 interchange once..Remember when the was some Wendy ball thing on, world cup or something and the games were during the day.m England were playing an the roads were deserted, and you erm i mean he just had to...
Rich_W said:
Alex Roy's book is pretty good if you like that link.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Driver-True-Adventures-Und...
And on a related note. Although Roy never filmed his lap of Manhattan. The CBC guys did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPB6yYOF-Eg
(Music: Underworld & High Contrast - "Scribble" Netsky Remix - WIN!
)
Ref: M25 laps. Lonman once claimed 45mins IIRC But there were apparently races with stolen Cossies/911s back in the late 80s
I genuinely enjoyed Alex's book. I love the amount of effort that went into the planning and organisation of it all. The fact that he had a spotter plane should give an indication of how serious he took it. The bit in Oklahoma (IIRC) was a close call!http://www.amazon.co.uk/Driver-True-Adventures-Und...
And on a related note. Although Roy never filmed his lap of Manhattan. The CBC guys did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPB6yYOF-Eg
(Music: Underworld & High Contrast - "Scribble" Netsky Remix - WIN!
)Ref: M25 laps. Lonman once claimed 45mins IIRC But there were apparently races with stolen Cossies/911s back in the late 80s
mk1matt said:
I genuinely enjoyed Alex's book. I love the amount of effort that went into the planning and organisation of it all. The fact that he had a spotter plane should give an indication of how serious he took it. The bit in Oklahoma (IIRC) was a close call!
He is a detail man, anyone who calls all the filling stations en route to ask their pump rates has an eye for the finer points! I read it four years ago (?) and since finishing have always had a LeMans Blue 1999 model M5 in the driveway.
Oddball RS said:
KIG1971 said:
I always felt the film the "Gumball Rally" from 1976 was the most accurate incarnation of the Cannonball. It even had a Daytona in it.
It's a real shame it cannot be undertaken any more.
Except it had a car bombed in it, not that accurate then??It's a real shame it cannot be undertaken any more.
Hi Gents,
As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
Edited by 79Cannonball on Wednesday 16th November 23:43
Edited by 79Cannonball on Wednesday 16th November 23:45
There was an alleged transcript of Brock Yates' police interview after being stopped a couple of miles from completing the NY to Redondo Beach trip in under 28 hours.
The closest I found was this:
http://www.viperalley.com/forum/anything-goes/2765...
which pretty much reads as I remember it from 20 years ago in Car&Driver.
Don't care if any of it is true, it's one of my favorite car mag reads of all time and inspired me, ten years later, to do the original Staples to Naples run, when it was still a slightly anarchic, thoroughly disorganised and completely glorious riot
The closest I found was this:
http://www.viperalley.com/forum/anything-goes/2765...
which pretty much reads as I remember it from 20 years ago in Car&Driver.
Don't care if any of it is true, it's one of my favorite car mag reads of all time and inspired me, ten years later, to do the original Staples to Naples run, when it was still a slightly anarchic, thoroughly disorganised and completely glorious riot
M666 EVO said:
I know a guy *cough* who drove from Beckton (London) to Newcastle in bang on 3 hours which by my maths is an average of 100mph. That must be some sort of Cannonball worthy statistic?
In the last 'official' Cannonball Dave Heinz and Dave Yarborough averaged ~90mph for over 30 hours. You're out of your league!http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=E69&daddr=...
Any takers?
I'd be seriously tempted. I'm guessing Spain and France would be slightly PITA, but as soon as you'd hit the German autobahns it'd be pretty smooth sailing (except Denmark). Only thing stopping you from going as fast as your heart desires north of Stockholm are the reindeer!
Any takers?
I'd be seriously tempted. I'm guessing Spain and France would be slightly PITA, but as soon as you'd hit the German autobahns it'd be pretty smooth sailing (except Denmark). Only thing stopping you from going as fast as your heart desires north of Stockholm are the reindeer!
Edited by Pilsner on Thursday 17th November 02:28
This in no way compares with these legendary exploits (and my post is frankly embarrassing in this context), but about 5 years ago I drove from central Cannes to the passport control at Calais ferry terminal in 7 hours 20 minutes, stopping for 3 fuel/ oil check/ coffee/ brie stops and of course for the toll booths we came across. I had a co-pilot on board but he did not drive.
We did the run overnight, setting off at 11.30pm after a delicious seafood dinner on France's sparkling Riviera. The route we took was not the shortest, but was by our estimations the fastest, and, if memory serves, we calculated that our average speed was well over 100mph. The vehicle of choice was a ratty, but mechanically excellent ex-police 3 litre Vauxhall Omega MV6 which had been mildly tinkered with, and had a rev-limited top speed of 163mph according to the (police specification, but old) speedometer. I remember this well as we were bouncing off the rev limit in top for over half an hour on the quiet roads north of Rouen.
The attempt was a spur of the moment thing, and I think we actually only decided to really go for it somewhere just south of Lyon having made 'robust' progress over the first part of our journey (and hence we did not start with a brimmed tank of fuel). As such we made no formal preparations and I reckon we could have knocked at least 20 minutes to half an hour off our time had we done so (not least by avoiding a fuel stop).
Now very obviously my experiences in a grands worth of smeggy Vauxhall lack all the coolness and credibility of these splendid efforts, and I also recognise that the US is an altogether different, and much more heavily policed, kettle of fish, that these guys travelled close to four times as far and that a 30 hour trip would necessitate relatively risky day time speeding and would be exhausting. But I have to say that the time set by even Alex Roy seems pretty achievable to me!
We did the run overnight, setting off at 11.30pm after a delicious seafood dinner on France's sparkling Riviera. The route we took was not the shortest, but was by our estimations the fastest, and, if memory serves, we calculated that our average speed was well over 100mph. The vehicle of choice was a ratty, but mechanically excellent ex-police 3 litre Vauxhall Omega MV6 which had been mildly tinkered with, and had a rev-limited top speed of 163mph according to the (police specification, but old) speedometer. I remember this well as we were bouncing off the rev limit in top for over half an hour on the quiet roads north of Rouen.
The attempt was a spur of the moment thing, and I think we actually only decided to really go for it somewhere just south of Lyon having made 'robust' progress over the first part of our journey (and hence we did not start with a brimmed tank of fuel). As such we made no formal preparations and I reckon we could have knocked at least 20 minutes to half an hour off our time had we done so (not least by avoiding a fuel stop).
Now very obviously my experiences in a grands worth of smeggy Vauxhall lack all the coolness and credibility of these splendid efforts, and I also recognise that the US is an altogether different, and much more heavily policed, kettle of fish, that these guys travelled close to four times as far and that a 30 hour trip would necessitate relatively risky day time speeding and would be exhausting. But I have to say that the time set by even Alex Roy seems pretty achievable to me!
Edited by T.K on Thursday 17th November 06:34
79Cannonball said:
Hi Gents,
As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
Awesome! Any more info John? As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
What car did you run? Any stories that didn't get reported that you want to share?!
Agree that in isolation Roy's time is impressive, but having all that backup and running multiple times, on your own, is always going to get a better result that the original cannonballers who were just judged on the one run with other guys in the mix.
I still enjoyed his book though, but Yates' collection of stories from the originals is inspiring.
Mavican said:
Oddball RS said:
KIG1971 said:
I always felt the film the "Gumball Rally" from 1976 was the most accurate incarnation of the Cannonball. It even had a Daytona in it.
It's a real shame it cannot be undertaken any more.
Except it had a car bombed in it, not that accurate then??It's a real shame it cannot be undertaken any more.
Nah, there was a yellow camero with Gary busey running it, but it didn't make the finish because he tried to drive it into LA on 2 wheels. Dont think anyone tried to do the bomb thing in Gumball Rally.
I've seen the David Carradine Cannonball, all 3 cannonball runs, and Gumball Rally. I'll have to see if there's any others.
I've seen the David Carradine Cannonball, all 3 cannonball runs, and Gumball Rally. I'll have to see if there's any others.
79Cannonball said:
Hi Gents,
As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
As a veterian of the 79 Cannonball I had a wonderful time and collected a lifetime of stories and friendships. And being it's youngest participant at the age of 23 it was a once in a lifetime experience. I have seen more than a few pale imatitions and many posers over the years but none has raised anger of the fraternity more than Alex Roy.
To put as simply as possible, records that are not set in completion have little to no value. Yes his cross-country time was impressive, but he might have lost the record if it involved running against others. We will never know if someone running in the same conditions could have done a better job.
Plus in the Cannonball there were no "do overs". If you got a ticket, had mechanical problems, or ran out of gas, you couldn't say the heck with it and start over.
We all had to deal with the our problems and press on, and if anything running against 45 other cars made it much harder to hide from the Police. Which is why the state of Missouri got the nick name "Mig Alley". The State Police knew what we were up to and nailed as many of us as they could catch.
We would have loved to have vast amounts of money for cars, ECM's, spotter planes, and spreadsheets, but in the real world of the Cannonball it was run what you brung and hope you have better luck than the other guys/ competors.
Thanks for letting me vent and for keeping the Cannonball memorie alive.
Cheers,
John Harrison
P.S. I really did enjoy the story.
Edited by 79Cannonball on Wednesday 16th November 23:43
Edited by 79Cannonball on Wednesday 16th November 23:45
Best first post ever. Hope you stick around. What a great era to have experienced.Looks like more details of you and your Esprit (good choice) here;
http://www.lotusbuzz.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4...
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