NationStates Jolt Archive


New York to LA in 31 hours, 4 minutes. In a car.

Neu Leonstein
15-11-2007, 11:43
http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/magazine/15-11/ff_cannonballrun
The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory

And so the clock starts and the taillights flare, and they're off again, strapped down, fueled up, and bound on an outlaw enterprise with 2,795 miles of interstate and some 31,000 highway cops between them and the all-time speed record for crossing the American continent on four wheels.

The gear is all bought and loaded. Twenty packs of Nat Sherman Classic Light cigarettes, check. Breath mints, check. Glucose and guarana, Visine and riboflavin, Gatorade and Red Bull, mail-order porta-pissoir bags of quick-hardening gel, check.

Randolph highway patrol sunglasses, 20-gallon reserve fuel tank, Tasco 8 x 40 binoculars fitted with a Kenyon KS-2 gyro stabilizer, military spec Steiner 7 x 50 binoculars, Hummer H1-style bumper-mounted L-3 Raytheon NightDriver thermal camera and LCD dashboard screens, front-and-rear-mounted sensors for a Valentine One radar/laser detector, flush bumper-mount Blinder M40 laser jammers, redundant Garmin StreetPilot 2650 GPS units, preprogrammed Uniden police radio scanners, ceiling-mount Uniden CB radio with high-gain whip antenna. Check. Check. Check.

At the moment, the driver and copilot of this E39 BMW M5 are illegal in intent only as they obediently cow along the tip of Manhattan, funnel into the Holland Tunnel, and spill out into New Jersey along a six-lane mash-and-merge. The speedometer reads a cool 60 miles per hour; the clock reads 9:12 pm.

"Unacceptable," Alex Roy says. The 35-year-old driver is addressing both the numbers and himself. Then, after 20 sickening minutes in construction traffic, Roy says it to the darkened highway, pushing up over 110 mph while his copilot squints along the scabbed blacktop for the deer that might end their lives and the policemen who might kill their trip.

-continues-

A few Youtube vids, including footage from the run and the car: http://www.youtube.com/profile_favorites?user=polizei144

I know it's illegal and dangerous and all, but still...:D
Ifreann
15-11-2007, 11:52
Taking part in this is stupid enough on it's own, but taking part in this and documenting it on the internet is just asking to get your stupid ass arrested.
Maraque
15-11-2007, 12:02
Irresponsible and idiotic.
Neu Leonstein
15-11-2007, 12:05
Irresponsible and idiotic.
And while we're at it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLC3-BciWlk

A 1976 French short film featuring a guy trying to get to a rendevouz with his girlfriend. The driver is the director, the car is a Merc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_450SEL_6.9) but the sound comes from a Ferrari 275GTB.

Yes, he was arrested after it was screened. But then he was released without charge.

And if you live in Paris or know the place, you may want to pass on this one. ;)
Forsakia
15-11-2007, 12:12
Anyone else reminded of this?

Death_Race_2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_2000)
Neu Leonstein
15-11-2007, 12:25
Taking part in this is stupid enough on it's own, but taking part in this and documenting it on the internet is just asking to get your stupid ass arrested.
Actually, they waited with releasing it until after the cops couldn't do anything (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutes_of_limitations) anymore. So if they ever get charged with anything, it can't be the speeding offenses.
Ifreann
15-11-2007, 12:34
Actually, they waited with releasing it until after the cops couldn't do anything (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutes_of_limitations) anymore. So if they ever get charged with anything, it can't be the speeding offenses.

Ah. Smarter than one would assume.