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Off Topic - New Cannonball Run record from NY to CA in 27 hours & 25 minutes...


Lebowski

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Absolute morons, they're on public roads doing nearly 200mph where people would be expecting them to be at most doing less than half of that - incredibly dangerous if you're not anticipating someone could be doing that (at least on an autobahn you know to expect it)

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The Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was run 5 times in the 1970s with a total of 285 entries. In all that speed and mayhem, the worst accident took place when the Polish Racing Drivers of America took a corner too fast in their Winnebago motorhome and spilled a pan of hot lasagna all over the shag carpet.

Quite an impressive record . It seems a good driver in a well prepared car can cover ground at an impressive rate, with safety.

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Not a race, but my personal (driving by myself) long distance speed record is or was about 55 hrs from L.A. to Baltimore in a 1960 Chrysler I had bought a week or so earlier for $200 from an older guy living in a small travel trailer behind a gas station in Hemet, CA.

It was back in mid-‘80s, National speed limit was 55 MPH and I still had hair.

Amazing what one was capable of with just fast food & cigarettes (Now I can’t stand either).

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9 hours ago, TTR said:

Not a race, but my personal (driving by myself) long distance speed record is or was about 55 hrs from L.A. to Baltimore in a 1960 Chrysler I had bought a week or so earlier for $200 from an older guy living in a small travel trailer behind a gas station in Hemet, CA.

It was back in mid-‘80s, National speed limit was 55 MPH and I still had hair.

Amazing what one was capable of with just fast food & cigarettes (Now I can’t stand either).

 

In 1997 I drove from Chicago to San Diego in 38 hours in a '97 Saturn SC2 and that includes stopping at a motel in Oklahoma for 5 hours of sleep.... :)

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11 hours ago, TTR said:

Not a race, but my personal (driving by myself) long distance speed record is or was about 55 hrs from L.A. to Baltimore in a 1960 Chrysler I had bought a week or so earlier for $200 from an older guy living in a small travel trailer behind a gas station in Hemet, CA.

It was back in mid-‘80s, National speed limit was 55 MPH and I still had hair.

Amazing what one was capable of with just fast food & cigarettes (Now I can’t stand either).

 

2 hours ago, Lebowski said:

 

In 1997 I drove from Chicago to San Diego in 38 hours in a '97 Saturn SC2 and that includes stopping at a motel in Oklahoma for 5 hours of sleep.... :)

My first nap after leaving L.A. was somewhere(?) in OK after driving +/-20 hrs straight, stopping only for necessities.

It was dark again (I had started around 4 am), foggy IIRC (couldn’t see very far) and I was getting very, very tired.

After slowing to walking speed, I carefully pulled the car off to the right until I felt RH tires falling off the pavement and saw the solid white line 2-3 feet to my left,  reached to turn ignition off and fell asleep right then and there.

Woke up few(?) hours later in the same, sitting position, saw it was still dark, opened the window to get some cold, fresh air and shook my head a bit, started the car and continued to drive. 

 

Next evening I did got a room for few hours.

 

Interestingly, at the time 25+ year old Chrysler never missed a beat and all I had done was changed fluids, re-pack wheel bearing, checked & adjusted the brakes and installed new bias ply WWW tires.

 

Well, I was in my early-‘20s and this wasn’t my first across country/long distance drive in a 25+ year old vintage car.

I’ve done more than few since, including several with modern (read boring) vehicles, although even couple of the trips with latter had enough roadside intrigue and problems they’ll deserve a chapter or two if I ever get a chance/time to finish my book(s) some day.

Edited by TTR (see edit history)
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13 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

The Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was run 5 times in the 1970s with a total of 285 entries. In all that speed and mayhem, the worst accident took place when the Polish Racing Drivers of America took a corner too fast in their Winnebago motorhome and spilled a pan of hot lasagna all over the shag carpet.

Quite an impressive record . It seems a good driver in a well prepared car can cover ground at an impressive rate, with safety.

 

Not entirely true. I know that during one of the events, a Dino hit a jack rabbit. The driver said it was akin to hitting a coconut with a baseball bat.

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19 hours ago, C Carl said:

Please don't drive when you are short of sleep. Particularly at speed where extreme concentration is needed.    -   Carl 

I fully agree.

My aforementioned experiences were when I still believed myself as bulletproof* and impervious to chance causing harm to others.

 

 

*Having been held at knife, gun or AR point more than few times, knifed and shot at on couple of occasions earlier in the life may have contributed to this misconception.

P.S. Just wanted to clarify that while none of these included pre-determined or volunteered participation in any criminal enterprise, law enforcement or military conflict activity, some just turned out as a result for unexpectedly walking into such events.

Edited by TTR (see edit history)
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