XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Thursday 31 October 2013

Man sets new record driving coast to coast in under 29 hours... - Average speed of 98mph... -

Man sets new record driving coast to coast in under 29 hours... - Average speed of 98mph... - 

Ed Bolian Mercedes

A 27-year-old Lamborghini dealer and two friends from Atlanta have set a new Guinness World Record after piloting a highly-tuned Mercedes CL from the east coast to the west coast of the United States in under 29 hours.

Ed Bolian and his two co-drivers averaged a law-breaking 98mph across the 2,813.7-mile trip in a souped-up Mercedes that boasted spare fuel tanks and an array of gadgets in order to evade the long arm of the law. 

The trio took the classic route from Midtown Manhattan in New York to Redondo Beach in Los Angeles, which was first driven in the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash of the 1970s. 

On board the mischievous Merc was a police scanner, two GPS units and iPhone apps such as Trapster that locates speed cameras and mobile police units, while friends of Bolian travelled the route roughly 150 mile ahead to check for potential obstacles. 

The car was also fitted with two laser jammers and a truck-mounted antenna in order to prevent police cameras from clocking the highly illegal speeds. 

According to Jalopnik, Bolian dreamed of breaking the record since he was a teenager.

When explaining the potential pitfalls of the record attempt, he revealed that he chose the Mercedes CL-Class not only because of its impressive fuel economy, but also for its active suspension, in order to handle the additional fuel tanks. 

"I thought about a Ferrari 612," he said. 

"But gas mileage would've been bad. A Bentley would've been perfect, but you'd want the V8 for gas mileage, and those are still way too expensive." 

Bolian's record time of 28 hours and 50 minutes beats the previous record set by Alex Roy back in 2006 at 31 hours and four minutes – the very man Bolian sought advice from on how to prepare both himself and the car for the trip. 

Bolian said: "Every year, Alex hears about five to seven attempts to break the record. None of the challengers come close."

Read more - 
http://cars.aol.co.uk/2013/10/31/driver-completes-the-cannonball-run-in-record-breaking-29-hours

No comments:

Post a Comment