Car Features

The USA’s Cannonball Run record was claimed in late-2024 by Chris Stowell, driving a tuned 2015 BMW 535 Diesel. This legendary – and illegal – unsanctioned speed record challenge involves a very fast drive across the country, from New York to LA.

Unofficial speed attempts to travel across the USA date back to the early post-WWI automotive days, but the event achieved international prominence in early 1971, when Car & Driver Magazine writer Brock Yates and editor Steve Smith emulated the timed coast-to-coast race, with the purpose of protesting the restrictive speed limits on the US Interstate Highway system.

This Google Map shows that a vehicle driven constantly at legal speeds would need 42 non-stop hours for the journey

Their course started at New York City’s Red Ball Garage and finished at the Portofino Inn, at Redondo Beach, CA and that was the route taken by Chris Stowell.

A second starting point, used in the 1979 attempt, was the Goodwives Shopping Center in Darien, Connecticut. The route from this point is said to be 48 miles (77km) further than the Red Ball Garage starting point.

The race is named after Erwin ‘Cannon Ball’ Baker, who set a total of 143 driving records, spanning from the 1910s to the 1930s. Baker’s 1933 New York to Los Angeles record of 53.5 hours in a 1933 Graham-Paige model 57 Blue Streak 8 was broken only in 1964.

Chris Stowell’s Beemer achieved a solo coast-to-coast time of 27 hours and 16 minutes, at an average speed of 105mph (170km/h) and a top speed of 151mph (243km/h).

His choice of a high-performance diesel meant better high-speed economy than previous petrol-powered supercar and muscle car competitors, with little real-world performance disadvantage.

The car had much of its emissions-reduction gear nullified and was fitted with a foam-filled auxiliary fuel tank in the boot, giving him 800-900 miles (1300-1450km) of range. Several GPS systems were on board, along with a laser jammer and an Insta-360 camera. 

This car originally ran on differently-sized front and rear tyres, but these were made uniform for the challenge and he packed a spare wheel and tyre, as well as a repair kit.

Chris Stowell described his record-breaking run in the following video:

Cannonball Run history

The illegal Cannonball Run was made famous, or infamous, by a 1981 American action-comedy film, featuring an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan and Dean Martin.

The Cannonball Run is unsanctioned, so there are no official limits imposed on cars, routes, technologies, or strategies used in record runs. Record-setting runs are typically self-verified by record-setters through witnesses, toll receipts, continuous video of the run and GPS tracking.

The challenge isn’t going away and there are now different categories, including an ‘electric Cannonball’ that must be completed without burning any fossil fuel and requires the battery capacity, charge-locations, charge-durations and vehicle state-of-charge at each ‘start/stop’ as evidence to support the record attempt.

The current motorcycle Cannonball Run record holder follows in the tyre tracks of Erwin Baker, who did the run on an Ace motorcycle in 1922, taking six days, 23 hours.

Ross ‘Beau’ Earnest set a new time of 32 hours and 32 minutes in April 2024, riding a 2008 Yamaha FJR1300 that was equipped with an additional fuel tank, laser jammers, radar detector and a thermal night vision camera. 

Cannonball cars are commonly fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks to extend range and are frequently modified to increase performance and durability.

Cars are also modified to help evade police, using equipment such as police radio, radar and laser detectors and/or jamming, and cosmetic alterations that obscure the car’s identity. Several attempts have also implemented police-spotting teams traveling ahead of the record-run in cars or in aircraft.

The record was broken multiple times during the COVID-19 pandemic, with competitors taking advantage of a reduction in road users and law enforcement presence.

Australia’s Cannonball

1992 Maserati Barchetta – Hartwell Collection PH0766/0022

The Northern Territory Cannonball Run was a competitive motorsport event staged in 1994 on public roads in the NT. The event was organised by Racecage Pty Ltd and the chief executive was Australian motorsport veteran, Allan Moffat OBE. It had approval from the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) and the Northern Territory Government.

Archived organisational paperwork from this notorious event should probably be filed under the heading: ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’.

The event ran for seven days, from Sunday 22nd May to Friday 27th May and consisted of timed control sections, non-competitive sections and the ‘Flying Mile Challenge’, where competitors could take their cars up to maximum speed. 

All routes other than the road set aside for the Flying Mile Challenge were public roads, so drivers were required to obey all road rules – including speed limits. However, there were no speed limits on most Northern Territory highways at the time of the event.

Entries came from Australia and overseas, and each team consisted of at least two drivers. The entry list numbered 118 teams, and each paid an entry fee of AUD A$7500, which included meals and accommodation. Five star accommodation was available for an extra $1000. 

The race’s future prospects were doomed by an accident on day two when a Ferrari F40 that was entered by Japanese drivers, Akihiro Kabe and Takeshi Okano, lost control when entering a gravel-surfaced roadside checkpoint, hitting other vehicles and killing two event officials, Keith Pritchard and Tim Linklater.

Both occupants of the Ferrari died instantly, when their heads smacked together at the moment of impact.

Incredibly, after a 24-hour break, the event continued, with a speed restriction of 180km/h and a ‘no overtaking’ rule put in place.

The race was won by a Porsche 911 Turbo, entered by Ron Conrad and Andrew Kelly.

A coroner’s inquest found that the cause of the accident was ultimately driver error on the part of the Japanese team, despite  other contributing factors.

A memorial for the four victims, designed by the father of one of the event officials killed, was erected at the place of the accident, in October 1994.

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