With an average speed of 174km/h, one man has absolutely obliterated the solo Cannonball Run record
A new era of the Cannonball Run is well and truly upon us.
In the seven months since Arne Toman and Doug Tabbut set a 27 hour and 25 minute benchmark in late 2019, the benchmark for crossing America in the fastest time possible has been getting lower and lower.
A recent flurry of record attempts has lowered the outright record time to under 26 hours.
Enter Fred Ashmore – who is either a legend or insane person depending on your worldview – who has obliterated the solo Cannonball Run record, and come close to setting an outright record, by crossing the United States of America in an alleged 25 hours and 55 minutes. Ashmore has not had his GPS data for the journey verified by a third party.
Where the team that broke the record in late 2019 meticulously prepared their Mercedes-AMG E63, this most recent run was entirely ad hoc in its preparation and execution, using a rented V8 Mustang with almost 500 litres of fuel strapped into the cabin, and one crazed lunatic driving solo the entire way.
To set his record time, with an average speed of 174km/h, Ashmore had to keep the 5.0-litre V8 Mustang near its maximum velocity as much as possible.
"The Mustang GT will not go any faster than 159 miles per hour [255km/h]," he told Road & Track. "Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying."
According to Ashmore, the Mustang averaged 19.6L/100km on the journey. Putting his average distance per tank at just over 2500km.
However, to minimise time spent stationary, Ashmore co-ordinated with a mobile refuelling team.
Allowing him to avoid stopping at a gas station, the mobile team were driving pick-up with 567-litres of fuel in a tank, that was able to refuel the Mustang in eight minutes.
Well it takes all kinds of people to keep this planet interesting
