NY to LA in 27 hours, 25 minutes for record ‘Cannonball Run’

The “Cannonball Run” has a new record time — 27 hours and 25 minutes, beating the previous record of 28 hours and 50 minutes — for the illicit cross-country speed trip from New York to Los Angeles.

According to CNN and various auto racing media outlets a trio of drivers — Arne Toman, Douglas Tabbutt and Berkeley Chadwick — say they started their drive Nov. 11 at 12:57 a.m. at the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan and ended at the Portofino hotel in Redondo Beach, Calif.

“Holding the ‘Cannonball’ record is a lifelong dream of mine,” Toman, one of the drivers, told CNN. “I have no intentions of trying to do it again. We had perfect weather, traffic, no construction, etc. I don’t think you could recreate that or the good luck we had without having police interactions.”

Road & Track first reported the accomplishment in the unofficial event.

The trio claims their average speed was 103 miles per hour, and the highest was 193.

They drove in a “heavily prepared” Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. Upgrades to the exhaust and the engine’s two turbochargers produced more than 800 horsepower, a press release said.

Understating the requirements to set a new benchmark, Road & Track wrote, “setting a Cannonball record invariably involves breaking multiple traffic laws.” It’s better to tell the truth and say a committed Cannonball Run is just as comically illegal as it looked in the 1981 film.”

Avoiding Smokey

The electronics involved come from the Special Warfare section, according to Road & Track. Radar and jamming capabilities included a built-in Net Radar detector, an Escort Max 360 radar detector, AL Priority laser jamming, and a ground-based version of an aircraft collision avoidance system that would flag airborne police patrols. Waze picked up police checkpoints, and a remote-controlled thermal scope on the roof picked up heat signatures from lurking police cars at night. Kill switches could extinguish brake and taillights. And then there were three GPS units, a police scanner, and a CB radio.

Old record set in 2013

Ed Bolian, who was part of a three-person team in 2013 that set the last record, said he was excited that people in their community of car lovers were the ones to break their mark.

“You know, it meant so much to me to join this community, and I really don’t need to hold it forever and didn’t expect to do so,” Bolian said.

Toman told CNN he attributed the team’s success to their experience with cross-country drives and that they operated with “military precision.” He also said it’s important not to upset other motorists so they don’t call the police.

One person was focused on the actual driving, while two others were feeding the driver information. Toman said they did their best to not scare or affect other drivers during their pursuit.

Erwin George “Cannonball” Baker was the original driver of the Cannonball Run, according to the news release. Baker’s best coast-to-coast time was 53.5 hours in 1933.