‘Jerks’ use virus to shatter highway record
Car lovers debate whether a new coast-to-coast speed record represents ‘genius’ or the work of ‘this country’s biggest a**holes’ as empty roads tempt speeders.
Car enthusiasts are debating the legitimacy of a new record in America’s coast-to-coast “Cannonball Run”.
An unidentified group of drivers took advantage of quiet roads and a reduced highway patrol presence to race from California to New York in record time in April.
US magazine Road and Track reported the drivers completed the run from New York to Los Angeles in 26 hours and 38 minutes, stripping 47 minutes from a record set in 2019.
It represents a journey of about 4500 kilometres completed at an average speed of about 170.5km/h. At that average speed, driving from Sydney to Melbourne would take just five hours and nine minutes.
Former record holder Ed Bolian said the attempt resulted in an “amazing time” likely to be marked with an asterisk within the record-chasing community as near-empty roads made possible by COVID-19 travel restrictions were akin to the “doping era” of athletics.
But Bolian stopped short of saying the high-speed record should not count, as “that would be like a cocaine dealer telling a heroin dealer that he’s a terrible person”.
US magazine Car and Driver, which started the trend for cross-country speed attempts in the 1970s, slammed the achievement as “unconscionable and dumb”.
Describing the anonymous crew as “some of the country’s biggest a**holes”, the magazine said the coronavirus crisis represented “the opposite of the perfect time” for such a feat.
Former record holder Alex Roy told Motor Authority it was inappropriate to attempt the record while “people are dying”, while Jalopnik said the crew were “jerks”.
But observers on twitter felt it was “genius to use the pandemic to their advantage”, and that the virus made it “safer” to attempt high-speed runs.
The drivers used a white Audi A8L sedan to complete the feat.
The luxurious cruiser had a pair of marine fuel tanks in the boot to minimise time lost refuelling. While it is not clear exactly which model they used, it may have been a 338kW V8 petrol variant not offered in Australia.
While previous record-beating cars were high-performance sedans such as the BMW M5 and Mercedes-AMG E63, the much larger A8 represents a less brash machine.
German sedans have been the choice of cross-continental speeders because they are developed for safe, reliable — and legal — high-speed running on autobahns.
Some of the groups used technology such as radio scanners, radar detectors, police reporting apps and even thermal cameras to avoid highway patrols.
Recent attempts used cars with sophisticated self-levelling air suspension allowing drivers to safely store heavy fuel tanks in the boot.
As with the latest record, April’s group masked the shape of their car’s tail-lamps to make the car harder to identify.
The Cannonball Run was popularised by a 1981 film of the same title starring Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett.
Australia’s own Cannonball Run took place in the Northern Territory in 1994.
The legally approved road rally ended in tragedy when a Ferrari F40 crashed south of Alice Springs, resulting in the deaths of two competitors and two officials.
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