re: The Cannonball Run Record: 2816.4 miles in 25:35 in an Audi S6 made to look like a Taurus

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Wonder what the cannonball run record is for an EV?

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In 1968, the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race was held between student groups at Caltech and MIT. The Caltech team, led by EV pioneer Wally Rippel, converted a 1958 VW Microbus powered by lead cobalt batteries from Electric Fuel Propulsion Corporation of Detroit. The MIT team converted a 1968 Chevrolet Corvair powered by NiCad batteries. The MIT team raced from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Pasadena, California, while the Caltech team raced the opposite direction. A network of 54 charging locations was set up along the 3,311-mile route, spaced 21 to 95 miles apart. The race began on August 26, 1968, and ended on September 4. Although the MIT team reached Pasadena first, they were towed part of the way. After assessing penalty points, Caltech was declared the winner with a corrected time of 210 hours 3 minutes

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In October 2021, the EV record was broken twice in the same rented 2021 Tesla Model S Long Range. The first drive, from Los Angeles to New York City, by Ryan Levenson and Will Wood, lowered the EV record to 42:52. The second drive occurred on October 22, 2021, leaving from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan at 11:00am and arriving at the Portifino Inn in Redondo Beach, CA 42 hours, 17 minutes later. The second drive was piloted by a driver team of Ryan Levenson and Josh Allan. The only modification made to the stock Tesla was to replace the factory 21-inch wheels with the more efficient Tesla 19-inch wheels and to over-inflate the tire pressure to 47 psi (3.2 bar) for the second drive.

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Wonder what the cannonball run record is for an EV?

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42:17

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How do you do this and not get caught? Those speeds are jail time.

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Tons of countermeasures (radars/waze/stabilized binoculars/radios) and some cars running in front at different points.


Not positive, but the car in the OP was totaled not long after setting the record. I believe Arn bought it back from the insurance company and rebuilt it. Someone plowed into it while he was pulled over on the side of the road.

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Someone plowed into it while he was pulled over on the side of the road.

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Horsemeat was having a bad day, it happens.

Cannonball Run I & II came on cable all the time when I was a kid. My favorite car:

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How do you do this and not get caught? Those speeds are jail time.

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You don't just hop in a car and start driving fast toward the West.

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You don't just hop in a car and start driving fast toward the West.

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Not west, but I made it from jackson, MI to plaquemine, LA in a little under 12.5 hours.

The only time there was almost a wreck, I was sitting at 105 and a guy came flying up behind me while staring down at his phone...which had to be a Razr.

I can't imagine holding a higher average speed than that for over 24 hours.

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How do you do this and not get caught? Those speeds are jail time.

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I made it from Downtown Atlanta to Long Beach, MS in 3 hours, 50 minutes once. This wasn't in the middle of the night, either. I left Atlanta at around 5:30PM.

The key thing is to remain observant and never let your attention lapse. Cop cars are not invisible. Inattention is what leads to getting pulled over.

My familiarity with the route also helped. Really, that's why I drove so fast. I was sick and tired of driving from Atlanta to my house at 65mph.

I did have a radar detector. They were still pretty effective back then. Don't know about now.

It was surreal standing in Long Beach, with the sun still up, knowing that I'd been in rush hour traffic in Atlanta that same day.

Our speed limits are a human rights issue IMO.

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Audi S6 made to look like a Taurus

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Yeah because a S6 stops traffic in its tracks...

Whimsical, but not needed at all