CANNONBALL!

[clambake]

Just finished reading Brock Yates's book about this stealthy car race. I enjoyed the chapters written by the various participants, and I wondered if Mr. McCarthy could relate some memories to us. Good or bad highlights, choice of vehicle, would I ever do it again etc.

[dykstra]

I read that book. It is a really nice read!!

[Top Banana]

Ok....the Statue of Limitations is up on most of this stuff anyway.

Choice of vehicle....I had just purchased a new 928 Porsche for the race, when a good friend of mine whined, pleaded, cried and generally made a nuisance of himself until I agreed to take him along......his final plea bargain....he offered up his own car and would pay for all the modifications. He had a new MB 300SD diesel. We shipped it off to Bill Mitchell of Special Vehicles Developments (He is the guy who with Mark Donohue, made all of the street Camaros for Aronow, Magoon, Satullo, and me)

We filled the trunk with a ATL fuel cell that ran off an electric pump that would fill the regular tank through the normal fuel fill neck....no extra plumbling to go wrong. It gave us a range of over 600 miles at speed. At the fuel stop, one guy would fill the regular tank and another would fill the ATL....we always left the change with the attendant.

We had a crew of three. Oh....just remembered, the guy who volunteered the car didn't go...his wife wouldn't let him, due to her fear of them being sued and losing all their money because of some nutty car race. I said no problem, you can pick up your car in LA on Monday.

The crew rotation was 1.) navigate from the passenger seat, 2.) drive and then 3.) sleep in the back seat. Each person would drive three hours. We would set the odometer to see how far we could go on our shift.....yes, we even competed in the car. My best was.... in pouring rain in Pennsylvania, at night, in my three hours, I covered 327 miles.

We had radar detectors front and back. The guy who invented them instructed us how to use them at the party before we left.....as long as the radar gun couldn't get a lock on a steady speed for more than 1 second, it would bounce back and try again.....so when you hear the beep, jump on the brakes and keep the car slowing down to the 55MPH that was the national average back then. Didn't work all the time, got caught at 101 after being on the brakes forever.

Jacque Villeneuve, the uncle, not the kid. He was an Indy car driver back then and a friend of mine. We were supposed to run 928's together, but when I changed, he still ran his. Well naturally he had a much higher top speed than my car so he would fly past me and then he would have to pull in for fuel. I would just keep on motoring and he would come up again and ask me on the CB radio......in a very French Canadian accent.....Charleee, Mon Dieu, how did you get ahead of me?? I would calmly answer...Jacque, my friend....didn't you take the shortcut back there on route 35?? What shortcut?????? he would say and he would then swear in French. Happened three times across the country...he never caught on, as I never told him about the fuel cell in the trunk, he thought it was an American conspiracy. I told him later that Brock had given the Americans special maps with shortcuts on them.

Would I ever do it again????? Absolutely...when do we leave???

[clambake]

Do you think it could be done with today's radar, helicopters, and increased manpower, I mean, smokey power out there? What kind of vehicle would you choose? Maybe a crown vic to blend in, some magnetic signage, plenty of room for a fuel cell. Thanks for your comments.

[BBB725]

I know I've driven between the Florida Keys and Wisconsin more time than I want to admit and the distance you can go between fuel stops is huge. Example I can make the trip faster in my Ford Excursion with a 48 gallon tank than with my wife's Porsche.

[dammmagnum]

I know I've driven between the Florida Keys and Wisconsin more time than I want to admit and the distance you can go between fuel stops is huge. Example I can make the trip faster in my Ford Excursion with a 48 gallon tank than with my wife's Porsche.

Over the years a few years back, have driven from NJ to Fort Lauderdale and back and never been passed by a car or truck using a Chevy Dualie Pickup with two 20 gal factory tanks and a 25 gal mounted tank in the bed.

I think the best time was just about 15.5 hours.. would leave NJ around 6:30-7 pm and then miss all the DC traffic, got to FLL in time to go to the beach and sleep.
nice to be younger

Thank you
jim

[BBB725]

Over the years a few years back, have driven from NJ to Fort Lauderdale and back and never been passed by a car or truck using a Chevy Dualie Pickup with two 20 gal factory tanks and a 25 gal mounted tank in the bed.

I think the best time was just about 15.5 hours.. would leave NJ around 6:30-7 pm and then miss all the DC traffic, got to FLL in time to go to the beach and sleep.
nice to be younger

Thank you
jim

It was great when I was young, I could leave at anytime and just drive straight thru, now I have to leave in the morning and then it's either bathroom breaks or I'm tired. Sucks getting old

[BBB725]

My best time to the Keys was 23 hours and the distance is 1650 miles

[Top Banana]

Do you think it could be done with today's radar, helicopters, and increased manpower, I mean, smokey power out there? What kind of vehicle would you choose? Maybe a crown vic to blend in, some magnetic signage, plenty of room for a fuel cell. Thanks for your comments.

Yes....it could be done today. Don't forget at that time, we had a national speed limit of 55 MPH due to the OPEC oil crisis. We could have said, no it can't be done, but we did it anyway.....same as today, if you want to do it, just do it.

Vehicle choice would be Crown Vic or a spec'd out pickup or big SUV. It really has to be comfortable....3,000 miles is a long way to go at speed. Most of the Corvettes and 911 Porsches wore the crews out long before they were anywhere near the coast.

Real sleeping space....we had a nice big back seat in that Mercedes that really worked for us. Fuel cell equals distance. With GPS and internet technology, most of the guesswork out of ......where is the next fuel stop and is it open, that we had.

[dammmagnum]

It was great when I was young, I could leave at anytime and just drive straight thru, now I have to leave in the morning and then it's either bathroom breaks or I'm tired. Sucks getting old

BBB,,
I hear you on all Counts... was alot easier when we were younger.

Thank you
jim

[clambake]

Yes....it could be done today. Don't forget at that time, we had a national speed limit of 55 MPH due to the OPEC oil crisis. We could have said, no it can't be done, but we did it anyway.....same as today, if you want to do it, just do it.

Vehicle choice would be Crown Vic or a spec'd out pickup or big SUV. It really has to be comfortable....3,000 miles is a long way to go at speed. Most of the Corvettes and 911 Porsches wore the crews out long before they were anywhere near the coast.

Real sleeping space....we had a nice big back seat in that Mercedes that really worked for us. Fuel cell equals distance. With GPS and internet technology, most of the guesswork out of ......where is the next fuel stop and is it open, that we had.

I think you should give Brock a call, see what he's up to, you never know. Just remember "Clambake", when you put your crew together.

[poncho]

I think it could be done. My passport still saves my butt--instant on and no traffic with cop on coming is the only time the detector failed. Did give enough warning to bring down the speed though!

Id do it with a VW Tourag (SP?) TDI (diesel)--its simular to the Porsche Cayenne having o.k rear sleeping capabilities and good range between fill ups. The Porsche is available in Europe with a diesel option--wish North America would embrace diesel over hybrid technology! Would give a better long range and "autobaun" cruiser capabilities choices..............

[htrdlncn]

my best time is Miami to Austin, 1400miles ,
16hours in a rented Budget Ford Ranger extended cab pickup ,
I was by myself with my Malamute as a copilot..
Entire Florida panhandle I10 was at 100+..

Longest continous driving trip with stops but without sleep,
Tulsa to San Antonio to Disneyworld to Miami, 40 hours ,
again by myself but without the dog ..

I havent had a speeding ticket in 17 years and I have never owned a radar detector.
Dulls the senses to whats going on around you IMHO..

[dykstra]

my best time is Miami to Austin, 1400miles ,
16hours in a rented Budget Ford Ranger extended cab pickup ,
I was by myself with my Malamute as a copilot..
Entire Florida panhandle I10 was at 100+..

Longest continous driving trip with stops but without sleep,
Tulsa to San Antonio to Disneyworld to Miami, 40 hours ,
again by myself but without the dog ..

I havent had a speeding ticket in 17 years and I have never owned a radar detector.
Dulls the senses to whats going on around you IMHO..

Holy chit!!

[OneBadInjun]

GUMBALL RALLY!!!!! "What is a behind you...is not important!". lol

[htrdlncn]

Holy chit!!

Yeah but these days I cant go further than 2 hours without a break and 10-12 hours a day is as far as I wanna go.

[htrdlncn]

GUMBALL RALLY!!!!! "What is a behind you...is not important!". lol

awesome flick, the best of all the "Run" movies.

[Top Banana]

After we finished in California, they had to figure out what to do with us, so all competitors were invited to take a lap of the race track, right before the start of the Formula 1 race in Long Beach.

The instructions were very clear......go out and take one lap at a nice speed....no racing or driving fast!!!

Remember...... they were talking to the same people who just broke every speed limit across an entire continent.

After about 5 laps, they blocked the track and ushered everyone off.....it was the only way they could get us to stop. Probably the first public example of "drifting" the world had ever seen from one of the guys.

[htrdlncn]

Any film/video of that?
That would be awesome to see!

[Dude! Sweet!]

31 hours 4 minutes now.

http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...urrentPage=all

It's been a dream of mine for a long time. We made it from Buffalo NY to Las Vegas NV in 36 hours diving an unmodifed 1996 Impala SS, back when I moved to California.

When I'm retired and nobody relies on me for anything anymore I'm going to give it a go... Probably going to have to drive a solar powered hover car with a hacked speed controler in it.