Cannonball Record Broken: 25 Hours, 39 Minutes from NYC to LA | Hacker News Reader

Cannonball Record Broken: 25 Hours, 39 Minutes from NYC to LA

roadandtrack.com

26 pointsdevy24 comments

Yeah, sorry, 175mph on the freeway is not something I'm okay with. For other cars on the road going 65mph that's a relative speed of 110mph. I'd like to see them in jail.

> 175mph on the freeway

That's also 175mph driven by a person who as a professional wouldn't legally be allowed to drive that long in many places (even if they're swapping, that's 12.7h of driving each). It's not a good state to be driving even at normal speeds.

> I'd like to see them in jail.

Given the drivers publish their names and various proofs... why aren't more of them arrested?

The new record holders wait until after statutes of limitations have elapsed in the various jurisdictions they traveled through.

Is there really no cooperation in enforcement at interstate level? I thought the police cars stopping at the state line was an 80s movie trope.

Also, the way I understand the statute of limitations in the US is that the time limit only applies to getting the charged filed. If the person is known (like in this case) they could be charged right now.

Each state is its own sovereign, state officials in one state is not recognized as such in another state (it doesn't mean they can't work together, they can be deputized or whatever the state laws say about another state officials, it just means by default, they can't be involved in another state's affairs and if they do, they'd be breaking the laws themselves even with good intentions).

Only the federal government can be involved in the interstate affairs but the constitution itself does not allow the federal government to be involved in police matters, only the states.

In addition, if someone breaks the law and cross the state line, the federal agencies can only be involved if the crime was being committed at the federal level. If no federal law exists, then there's nothing they can do.

Status of limitations is different in each state, it's not federal level. So, in some state, it can be from when the crime was committed. You can get the details here: https://www.lawinfo.com/resources/criminal-defense/criminal-...

But the guys said safety is their #1 priority!

Attentiveness and preparation increase safety dramatically. These guys are not driving full out in the middle of traffic.

What's more interesting is that the owner of the Audi previously had an S63 and while helping others on another run, his car was rear-ended by a semi-truck while parked on the shoulder. The driver of the truck was falling asleep due to truck driving regulations being lifted because of covid.

Safe to say that safety isn't that simple. Those trucking rule changes created more damage than the entire Cannonball history.

As far as I can tell, this is an illegal race that puts innocent peoples lives at unnecessary risk. Nothing to glorify IMO.

Pull the stick out your ass, this is America.

I don't understand this selfish attitude. 'Being America' justifies putting innocent lives at risk? If they want to risk their own lives on a closed course, they are free to make that decision for themselves, but (America being America) freedom works both ways.

It's interesting that they took the Audi and made a few small mods to make it look like it's a ford police interceptor from the front.

Is there a possibility this would fool other police? Or just people to get out of their way.

Both. I think it lends just enough plausible deniability if they did get stopped by police, but provides a certain amount of cover by creating some hesitation to identify it as either a private vehicle or a cop car (i.e., creating uncertainty) and prevent stoppage and other slowdowns. A friend of mine used to drive a Ford Crown Vic with a whip antenna on the rear that was actually an unmarked ex-cop car. When he would get in the passing lane, he'd never get blocked—US drivers recognize white or dark blue Ford Crown Vics and Taurus models as common police vehicles and usually change to the right (non-passing) lane immediately.

I wonder if the records set now during the reduced traffic COVID era will be able to be beaten once regular (or accelerated traffic begins due to reduced public transit use) resumes.

If we defund the police completely then maybe new records will be set (I'm being facetious of course).

Alex Roy has a very interesting talk he gave at Google 12 years ago (Wow!) on the subject of Cannonball runs. I highly recommend it: https://youtu.be/IQpg0tvap4A

I've heard of this happening again and again lately because of the lack of traffic due to Covid.

That’s what it says in the article as well

The article says this is the 6th new record since Nov 2019.

Has anyone seen anything about attempts to charge/prosecute people who attempt this? I haven't seen any reporting on it, but it seems like it would make for a good long-form article.

Three significant threads in the last year:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23206216

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22842110

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21701917

I'd be curious to hear more about the scouting system they have. The fact they can make it so far with such a big target on themselves (their speed) and not get stopped once does not bode well for officers trying to stop trafficking of any kind.

Previous record holders have used people in planes to scout for police. I'd imagine they did something similar. GPS systems that let people report speed traps probably help a lot too.

Here's a great video from 2 days ago explaining the recent record attempts during COVID

https://youtu.be/GOWn1WSYhVQ

While I do not approve of the cannonball run in anyway due to the horrendous disregard for others safety, I am a little impressed at the speed they achieve and the optimization they do to achieve this.

Wish it was more an opennly organized even with safety regulation, safety provisions and road closures rather than acting like road thieves, ignoring the rules for glory.

Arrest these people.

Did they put a GoPro on the front and release a time lapse video of the trip?

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