Someone’s Broken The Cannonball Run Record Despite COVID19 Lockdown
Many airlines aren’t flying these days, and that’s good news to help stop the spread of COVID19. So what is the fastest way to LA from NY nowadays? An Audi A8 with fuel tanks in the trunk apparently.
With limited police, and very limited traffic due to mandatory ‘stay-at-home’ orders in states across the country. Some unknown amateur speed enthusiasts took the empty roads as an opportunity to break the “Cannonball” speed record.
With an average speed above 105mph, the team left the Red Ball Garage in New York city, and arrived at the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach California just 26 hours and 38 minutes later. That is almost a full hour faster than the previous record set in 2019!
The Cannonball run is, at it’s core, still an outlaw road race. A dangerous game of cat and mouse between teams of drivers trying for the best time, and police organizations across the country who know that racers are on their way every year, and are trying to prevent them from speeding dangerously across their state. VINwiki has an excellent video that quickly runs it down:
The identity of the team is not yet known, and news of the new record has been met with mixed reactions. I’m not a fan of the low speed limits on some of the roads here in the United States, and I may or may not have been saved from my lead foot by my Valentine One radar/laser detector once or twice. On the other hand, COVID19 is serious, the mandates are in place for a very valid reason, and I’m not sure we need people traveling cross country right now, breathing NYC air all over gas stations and convenience stores across the country and finally in California.
Great time, whoever you are, but please don’t anyone else try this, just stay at home.
Lastly, since we’re under quarantine, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there is a good movie called Cannonball Run which is (loosely) based on the 1979 real-life cannonball run, with Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore and Farrah Fawcett. Worth a watch!
