|
|
May 22, 2006 12:07:35 GMT
|
www.32hours7minutes.com/October 15, 1983. The sun is setting, the gas is topped and it’s time for one last run in the most outrageous road race in American history. Formerly the Cannonball Run, the US Express gathers the best of the best, to speed nonstop from New York to Los Angeles, in a race where the only rule is there are no rules. These real-life, 32-hour outlaws drive over the limit and under the radar with one thing in their sights: becoming the fastest humans to ever cross the continent. Irreverent and gripping, this feature documentary chronicles the last great American outlaw race. Now with over two decades of hindsight, the Express racers reflect back on their illegal quest and raise some interesting questions: Are there gray areas in a no rules event? What are you risking when you'll stop at nothing to win? In addition to interviews with the Express participants, the film also features commentary from professional drivers such as Bobby Unser and Bobby Rahal. 32 Hours 7 Minutes will take you back to 1983, send you speeding across the continent at over 150mph and reveal why some laws just had to be broken so that one record could be set. See the trailer :
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 22, 2006 12:13:05 GMT
|
I'vve stayed at the Hotel that they start out from. (Portofino on Rodondo, Beach California). But sadly there was no racing that week LOL.
|
|
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
|
|
|
|
May 22, 2006 16:47:39 GMT
|
That looks very cool, I wonder what would happen if you tried the same thing in Britain? Lands End to John O Groats how long would that take?
|
|
|
|
SteB
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,408
|
|
May 22, 2006 16:51:49 GMT
|
Crossing Britain isnt really as much of an achievement as crossing a continent though is it?
Looks like an interesting film, and its bound to create a fan club that regularly try to break it! Awesome!
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 22, 2006 17:14:52 GMT
|
With the the number of speed cameras, amount of traffic, lack of a motorway that goes directly from one end of the country to the other, doing it in any kind of respectable time would be quite hard I would imagine.
|
|
Last Edit: May 22, 2006 17:15:31 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
May 22, 2006 18:06:09 GMT
|
If you go to lands end (or is it John O Groats) they have a display of all the Lands End to John O'Groats "capers" including a gang of lady motorcyclists who did the run in the nude in the 70s!
|
|
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
|
|
|
|
May 22, 2006 19:16:34 GMT
|
Looks like an interesting film, and its bound to create a fan club that regularly try to break it! Awesome! It already did ,.. it was the original Gumball rally, which spawned the film Gumball rally and later the first Cannonball film,.. the modern Gumballs and their like are a pale corperate sponsored celebrity endorsed version of this original Outlaw race. Now days I think you'd need to choose a different continent to race across....
|
|
|
|
Smiler
Posted a lot
I no longer own anything FWD! Or with less than 6 cylinders, or 2.5ltrs! :)
Posts: 2,492
|
|
May 22, 2006 19:32:41 GMT
|
That looks cool!
|
|
www.Auto-tat.co.uk'96 Range Rover P38 DSE (daily driver) '71 Reliant Scimitar SE5 GTE 3.0ltr Jag V6 Conversion '79 Reliant Scimitar SE6A 3.0ltr 24valve Omega Conversion '85 Escort Cabrio 2.0 Zetec - Sold '91 BMW 525i - Sold '82 Cortina 2.9i Ghia Cosworth - Sold '72 VW Campervan - Sold '65 LandRover 88" - Sold
|
|
Ed
Part of things
Posts: 600
|
|
May 22, 2006 19:35:45 GMT
|
Looks like an interesting film, and its bound to create a fan club that regularly try to break it! Awesome! It already did ,.. it was the original Gumball rally, which spawned the film Gumball rally and later the first Cannonball film,.. the modern Gumballs and their like are a pale corperate sponsored celebrity endorsed version of this original Outlaw race. Now days I think you'd need to choose a different continent to race across.... across the old USSR
|
|
|
|
SteB
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,408
|
|
May 22, 2006 21:20:59 GMT
|
EVO magazing participated in a jaunt around China in some modern italian phiffle, now that looked like a fair old adventure
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 23, 2006 11:29:32 GMT
|
That looks very cool, I wonder what would happen if you tried the same thing in Britain? Lands End to John O Groats how long would that take? I did Lands End to Weston Super Mare door to door in 2 1/4 hours once - 180 miles = 80mph average. Not bad considering the amount of A roads and I was in a 1.3 Mini. Mind you it was 5am on a sunny sunday morning
|
|
|
|
MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
|
|
|
Looks like an interesting film, and its bound to create a fan club that regularly try to break it! Awesome! It already did ,.. it was the original Gumball rally, which spawned the film Gumball rally and later the first Cannonball film,.. the modern Gumballs and their like are a pale corperate sponsored celebrity endorsed version of this original Outlaw race. Now days I think you'd need to choose a different continent to race across.... Going to have to nerdy on your ass and correct you here dude. The orginal 'race' was called the 'Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash' and was created by Car and Driver editor Brock Yates as a protest against the proposed blanket 55mph speed limit. The name Cannonball Baker came from an American record breaker who would try to cover long distances in the shortest time possible on his motorbike. Only a handful of events were even run and they consisted of very low numbers of invited entrants, all who Yates knew a lot about. The first even consisted of something like less than 10 entrants. The Gumball movie was shamelessly based on the Cannonball but with the inclusion of a Gumball machine as a reward. It's something that Yates has been bitter about since it's release and wishes he'd done something to copywrite the event. There's certain elements of the film taken directly from the first Cannoball such as the guys carrying all their fuel in their van with them. After the first three or four events the Cannonball took a break for a few years and after a conversion with Hal Needham (a friend of Yates and creator of films like Smokey & The Bandit) they decided to run one big last Cannonball with the intention of turning the stories into a film. In fact competitors were encouraged to be as wacky as possible although an entrant with a tuned black lambogini was refused entry. Yates, his wife and Needham entered using a fake ambulance concept. I think this was the year which had the only crash by the all girl entry 'team well fitting bra'. Needham and Yates sat on the film concept for a while and had original planned for it to be a very serious movie starring Steve McQueen but he started suffering from the stomach cancer that eventually killed him. They eventually went for Burt Reynolds who wanted Dom DeLuise involved and took a lot of control over the concept which eventually turned it into a comedy. The following stuff from the film was based on true events: The ambulance was the vehical Yates and Needham entered The guys dressed as priests were based on guys from the first event The guys who leave the start line and go offroad in the pickup was based on two real guys who drove up a grass embankment to get onto the highway The scene where they get pulled over and use the excuse about lung cysts to the police requiring the patient to be raced across the country by road was all based on a real event The black tuned lambogini was the one refused entry The shiek was based on a request by a real shiek who wanted to compete Brock Yates comes across and increadably bitter about the path the Cannonball took after the events finished and more so towards the success of the Gumball which has turned it into a jolly for playboy types. It was never supposed to be about the fastest time really, it was about proving that capable drivers in good cars could drive well in excess of the proposed 55 mph limit for long distances without problems. Although in my personal opinion I do think that Yates dresses up the story with this justification to clutch at some moral herritage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looks like an interesting film, and its bound to create a fan club that regularly try to break it! Awesome! It already did ,.. it was the original Gumball rally, which spawned the film Gumball rally and later the first Cannonball film,.. the modern Gumballs and their like are a pale corperate sponsored celebrity endorsed version of this original Outlaw race. Now days I think you'd need to choose a different continent to race across.... The original "gumball" was the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea memorial Trophy Dash. The Second Cannonball Run. the first cannonball run was by Erwin.G "Cannonball" Baker. Starting May 4th 1914. Took him 11 days, 12 hours and 10 minutes on his motorcycle, riding "roads" that were just dirt tracks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 25, 2006 10:35:13 GMT
|
MWF, interesting you mention Brock Yates. I've read his stuff in Car & Driver over recent years and I'm not really sure what to make of him. I often find myself getting annoyed by him, and his constant self-promotion is tedious (how many times have I read about his or his wife's books?).
Not really too disappointed he's gone from C&D as of the last issue.
|
|
|
|
MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
|
|
May 25, 2006 10:49:59 GMT
|
MWF, interesting you mention Brock Yates. I've read his stuff in Car & Driver over recent years and I'm not really sure what to make of him. I often find myself getting annoyed by him, and his constant self-promotion is tedious (how many times have I read about his or his wife's books?). Not really too disappointed he's gone from C&D as of the last issue. Yes I feel very similar, I don't know what to make of him either. He comes across to me as someone who's turned into quite a cranky old sod having watched other capitalise on things he's been involved with.
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 25, 2006 11:05:48 GMT
|
The guys who leave the start line and go offroad in the pickup was based on two real guys who drove up a grass embankment to get onto the highway Wasn't that Dennis Menasini, yes, really. Not sure if the spelling is correct But I'm sure that was the name.
|
|
|
|
MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
|
|
May 25, 2006 11:17:22 GMT
|
The guys who leave the start line and go offroad in the pickup was based on two real guys who drove up a grass embankment to get onto the highway Wasn't that Dennis Menasini, yes, really. Not sure if the spelling is correct But I'm sure that was the name. I don't know but I could look it up tonight and check.
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 25, 2006 15:33:34 GMT
|
Wasn't that Dennis Menasini, yes, really. Not sure if the spelling is correct But I'm sure that was the name. I don't know but I could look it up tonight and check. Would appreciate it.
|
|
|
|
MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
|
|
May 25, 2006 18:41:50 GMT
|
Here you go dude
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bloody hell, twenty+ years since I read about it in Motor magazine, and I still remembered the pickup nutters name.
|
|
|
|
|