Getty Image / Silver Screen Collection
A two-man driver crew and a spotter have just broken the Cannonball Run record and driven coast to coast, from NYC to Redondo Beach in world record time.
Officially speaking, the Cannonball Run record doesn’t even exist because it’s illegal to drive that fast across the country and any sort of ruling body in racing keeping an official record on the Cannonball Run would likely be seen as endorsing that illegality. But the record exists. And it was just set by the crew of racers Arne Toman and Doug Tabutt and their spotter Berkely Chadwick which 100% sounds like a fake name from a frat movie.
The racing crew used a modified Mercedes-Benz sedan for their record-sedding Cannon Ball run which used the original start and finishing points from 1971’s “Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash”. They began at NYC’s Red Ball Garage on 31st and 3rd near the Kip’s Bay movie theater and they finished their journey at the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California in just 27 hours and 25 minutes.
The previous record was held by Ed Bolian, Dave Black and Dan Huang who completed the Cannonball Run back in 2013 in a time of 28 hours and 50 minutes so they shaved an hour and a half off the previous record time.
In order to show proof of their feat, the new record holders uploaded this clip of their outrageous journey from coast to coast in 27 hours and 25 minutes which includes ‘congrats’ from the previous record holders.
According to the NYPost, this record was set without any major scares (from law enforcement or tire blowouts) and this team was well-equipped to set a record like this based on their work history:
Toman has a background in the performance car business and now runs an Illinois CNC machine shop and a clothing company called Crook County. He chose a silver 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG for the trip that he removed the badges from and strategically covered with tape to make it look as nondescript as possible, while tuning it to 700 hp and installing a fuel cell in the tank for extended range between fill-ups.
Toman also added an array of electronic law enforcement countermeasures – radar detectors, laser jammers, police scanner, etc. – that included a thermal imaging camera mounted to a gimbal on the roof that was used to look for police cars parked on the side of the road. Waze and an “underground” speed trap app provided crowdsourced intelligence, while 18 scout vehicles rendezvoused with them at points along the way to drive up ahead and check for speed traps, traffic and other obstacles.
They followed the so-called northern route along I-80, I-76, I-70 and I-15 at an average speed of 103 mph, and hit a top speed of 193 mph at an undisclosed location.
Toman said it was an uneventful 2,825-mile drive without any close calls, as far as accidents are concerned.
The longest non-stop road trip I’ve ever done was leaving Aspen, Colorado at around 8am and getting to Tallahassee, Florida around 8pm the next night. But we were driving the speed limits and stopping periodically to eat and load up on cigs + coffee. That was fucking miserable. Truly.
Being in a car for over 24-hour straight is miserable. I’ve done the drive from NYC to Tampa Bay straight through a couple of times and every time I complete that trip I want to swallow a bottle of Melatonin and wash it down with tequila so I can sleep for a month.
I’ve got nothing but respect for these dudes for being able to pull this record off. I can’t imagine finding time in my life to attempt something like this even if I wanted to and that’s the part I’m most envious about.
For a full rundown of the new record-setting Cannonball Run, you can click here to visit the NYPost.