4 ms·

I'm sorry to spoil the fun here, but if you want to drive a race, rent a race track and don't do it on public streets where you endanger innocents.

13hours 13y ago
Agreed. I wonder how this article jeopardises him in terms of getting arrested for this. It's basically a public confession isn't it?
- rurounijones 13y ago
  The guy who did it in the M5 (Or that might have been someone doing the gumball rally record) had to research statute of limitations for all sorts of driving offenses he might be charged with in each state before he went public.
  - tgb 13y ago
    It looks like he averaged 85 miles an hour [1] - above the speed limit pretty much anywhere in the US. That's pretty indicting, but I bet he can't get a ticket since no individual agency knows that he sped in their jurisdiction. I'd personally love to see some effort made to peg him with at least a speeding ticket by looking through, say, toll road logs. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+LA+to+NYC)%2F29+hours http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+LA+to+NYC...
rwallace 13y ago
Yeah. Hopefully these assholes can be criminally charged; their identities are known, after all.
- welly 13y ago
  Yeah! Hopefully! Because despite the speeds they were going, there were absolutely no casualties, accidents or incidents. Let's charge these bastards anyway. That'll stop them not killing anyone in the future.
  - cvshepherd 13y ago
    that's like saying it's ok to shoot at people, as long as you miss. it's a miracle that no one was hurt (or worse) in this race, and that's exactly why this sort of thing is illegal.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - rmc 13y ago
    It could discourage the next team from attempting it, and make "going public" less appealing. "If you break the record and go public, you'll be arrested"
  - awjr 13y ago
    So it's fine to behave this way because they didn't kill anyone?
    - thomasz 13y ago
      That's the Non Aggression Principle at work, or at least a pretty common and equally stupid interpretation thereof: They clearly did not initiate violence against anyone, therefore, any intervention limiting their freedom to recklessly drive at insane speeds for nearly 29 hours with basically no sleep would be immoral.
  - rurounijones 13y ago
    "And here I stand accused of a crime I didn't even commit! I mean 'Attempted murder'... Do they give nobel prizes for attempted Chemistry?!" - Sideshow Bob
  - factorizer 13y ago
    You might want to reflect on the concept of legality. I know, thinking hurts sometimes, but it's totally worth it!
  - podperson 13y ago
    You ever see the first episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets (great show, and largely based on actual incidents, at least for the first two seasons) where a guy confesses he accidentally shot some guy, but it's OK because he meant to kill someone else? I think you and he want to live in the same country.
rurounijones 13y ago
I agree with you but in this case it wasn't about racing. It was about breaking a specific record. [EDIT] To all the people who are downvoting; I am pointing out that I agree that it was a stupid thing to do but just saying "go on a race track" is pointless because he wanted to do something that cannot be done on a race-track. It is like telling someone to go to a climbing gym instead when they really want to conquer Everest.
- aaren 13y ago
  It is a time-trial, a race against the clock. From an aesthetic point of view I really like the cannonball. From a practical point of view I suppose doing it does make you a bit asocial.
  - Xylakant 13y ago
    > From an aesthetic point of view I really like the cannonball. I can relate. It's the kind of stuff that movies are made of. But one important property of being a responsible adult is that we're able to distinguish between fact and fiction and keep everything that's fiction safely on that side. So let's keep cannonball and all those other races on public roads where they belong: in the movies. If you really think a race across the states on public streets is great I guess you can get those roads blocked by the police - which would be totally fine with me. I really enjoy watching the Tourist Trophy.
- Robin_Message 13y ago
  I wonder how much it would cost to get enough roads closed/with police cars as a rolling roadblock to make a proper race legal? I expect the city start and end would be tricky.
- Xylakant 13y ago
  That's no excuse. If breaking the record involved endangering others, leave it. Break another record if you have to. Do a higher jump than Baumgartner or swim across the atlantic, I don't mind - just don't race a car on public roads and use "I made it as safe as possible" as a pathetic excuse.
Robin_Message 13y ago
You're not spoiling the fun at all, only sensibly trying to ensure that everyone else can have theirs without a sleep deprived moron canonballing into them at 100 mph. Its all fun and games until you kill someone. Considering how many deaths there have been at Le Mans (closest comparable organised race I can think of), this is certainly irresponsible. I wonder if they went through a jurisdiction where the minute by minute trace from the tracking company would be enough to prove they broke the law.
- cs02rm0 13y ago
  3 deaths in the last 30 years. It's a race that tops out at 250mph whereas these guys only got to around 100mph less. That's quite a lot less. I get your point, but I'm not sure these are really comparable.
  - Xylakant 13y ago
    They don't compare at all. There's a couple of reasons that races on dedicated tracks are significantly safer than road races, chief among them: * Everyone on the track is doing a race. No mother with a crying child on the back seat having a momentary lack of attention, getting in your way. * Everybody is roughly on the same speed scale. No slow lorry around the corner or behind the slope, doing a third or a quarter of your speed. * No bikes or pedestrians. * The track is known to be free of obstacles. If an accident occurs or any obstacle ends up on the track, people with huge flags jump out and signal danger. * The track is surrounded by safety zones designed to stop you moderately gently, especially in danger spots. So if you loose control, there's first green, then stone-beds, then hay and last a hard barrier. This allows even motorcyclists on the track to have a significant chance of survival. It's not the fall that kills you, it's the high speed impact on an immobile object. So when you race, be responsible to you and others. Stay on the track.
morkfromork 13y ago
I have driven across the country a few times. There's not much traffic once you are beyond the suburbs around the major cities. Even in densely populated areas it's common for highway traffic to cruise at 75+. 100+ in a high-performance car is not too extreme.
- lucaspiller 13y ago
  As a Brit I find this quite hilarious. On our motorways the speed limit is 70mph, but pretty much everyone cruises along at 90mph+.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    Depends on the motorway. And while there are plenty of people going at 90+ that's not most people. I'd guess most people are doing about 80. Unless there's a police car visible, when everyone drops to 68 and there's a huge tailback. Or they're on the M25.
  - WA 13y ago
    As a German, it's even more hilarious. I do 100mph on the Autobahn most of the time and still get passed by Audis, BMWs, Porsches, Mercedes driving 125mph. I never understood why you can drive only 70mph in the States in perfect conditions with looong roads, extremely long view distance, nothing in the way. Makes no sense to me.
    - podperson 13y ago
      There's quite a bit of discussion about the driving cultures of the US vs. Germany. In particular, Germans appear to think that you should pay attention when driving. The US attitude to driving is best exemplified by the fact that most family cars now have 2-3 cup holders per seat and two or more video screens.
    - wglb 13y ago
      Not all of the roads, out west, for example, are as well engineered as the Autobahn. But you do have a good point--this doesn't account for all of the difference.

13hours 13y ago

Agreed. I wonder how this article jeopardises him in terms of getting arrested for this. It's basically a public confession isn't it?

rurounijones 13y ago
The guy who did it in the M5 (Or that might have been someone doing the gumball rally record) had to research statute of limitations for all sorts of driving offenses he might be charged with in each state before he went public.
- tgb 13y ago
  It looks like he averaged 85 miles an hour [1] - above the speed limit pretty much anywhere in the US. That's pretty indicting, but I bet he can't get a ticket since no individual agency knows that he sped in their jurisdiction. I'd personally love to see some effort made to peg him with at least a speeding ticket by looking through, say, toll road logs. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+LA+to+NYC)%2F29+hours http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+LA+to+NYC...

rwallace 13y ago

Yeah. Hopefully these assholes can be criminally charged; their identities are known, after all.

welly 13y ago
Yeah! Hopefully! Because despite the speeds they were going, there were absolutely no casualties, accidents or incidents. Let's charge these bastards anyway. That'll stop them not killing anyone in the future.
- cvshepherd 13y ago
  that's like saying it's ok to shoot at people, as long as you miss. it's a miracle that no one was hurt (or worse) in this race, and that's exactly why this sort of thing is illegal.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- rmc 13y ago
  It could discourage the next team from attempting it, and make "going public" less appealing. "If you break the record and go public, you'll be arrested"
- awjr 13y ago
  So it's fine to behave this way because they didn't kill anyone?
  - thomasz 13y ago
    That's the Non Aggression Principle at work, or at least a pretty common and equally stupid interpretation thereof: They clearly did not initiate violence against anyone, therefore, any intervention limiting their freedom to recklessly drive at insane speeds for nearly 29 hours with basically no sleep would be immoral.
- rurounijones 13y ago
  "And here I stand accused of a crime I didn't even commit! I mean 'Attempted murder'... Do they give nobel prizes for attempted Chemistry?!" - Sideshow Bob
- factorizer 13y ago
  You might want to reflect on the concept of legality. I know, thinking hurts sometimes, but it's totally worth it!
- podperson 13y ago
  You ever see the first episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets (great show, and largely based on actual incidents, at least for the first two seasons) where a guy confesses he accidentally shot some guy, but it's OK because he meant to kill someone else? I think you and he want to live in the same country.

rurounijones 13y ago

I agree with you but in this case it wasn't about racing. It was about breaking a specific record. [EDIT] To all the people who are downvoting; I am pointing out that I agree that it was a stupid thing to do but just saying "go on a race track" is pointless because he wanted to do something that cannot be done on a race-track. It is like telling someone to go to a climbing gym instead when they really want to conquer Everest.

aaren 13y ago
It is a time-trial, a race against the clock. From an aesthetic point of view I really like the cannonball. From a practical point of view I suppose doing it does make you a bit asocial.
- Xylakant 13y ago
  > From an aesthetic point of view I really like the cannonball. I can relate. It's the kind of stuff that movies are made of. But one important property of being a responsible adult is that we're able to distinguish between fact and fiction and keep everything that's fiction safely on that side. So let's keep cannonball and all those other races on public roads where they belong: in the movies. If you really think a race across the states on public streets is great I guess you can get those roads blocked by the police - which would be totally fine with me. I really enjoy watching the Tourist Trophy.
Robin_Message 13y ago
I wonder how much it would cost to get enough roads closed/with police cars as a rolling roadblock to make a proper race legal? I expect the city start and end would be tricky.
Xylakant 13y ago
That's no excuse. If breaking the record involved endangering others, leave it. Break another record if you have to. Do a higher jump than Baumgartner or swim across the atlantic, I don't mind - just don't race a car on public roads and use "I made it as safe as possible" as a pathetic excuse.

Robin_Message 13y ago

You're not spoiling the fun at all, only sensibly trying to ensure that everyone else can have theirs without a sleep deprived moron canonballing into them at 100 mph. Its all fun and games until you kill someone. Considering how many deaths there have been at Le Mans (closest comparable organised race I can think of), this is certainly irresponsible. I wonder if they went through a jurisdiction where the minute by minute trace from the tracking company would be enough to prove they broke the law.

cs02rm0 13y ago
3 deaths in the last 30 years. It's a race that tops out at 250mph whereas these guys only got to around 100mph less. That's quite a lot less. I get your point, but I'm not sure these are really comparable.
- Xylakant 13y ago
  They don't compare at all. There's a couple of reasons that races on dedicated tracks are significantly safer than road races, chief among them: * Everyone on the track is doing a race. No mother with a crying child on the back seat having a momentary lack of attention, getting in your way. * Everybody is roughly on the same speed scale. No slow lorry around the corner or behind the slope, doing a third or a quarter of your speed. * No bikes or pedestrians. * The track is known to be free of obstacles. If an accident occurs or any obstacle ends up on the track, people with huge flags jump out and signal danger. * The track is surrounded by safety zones designed to stop you moderately gently, especially in danger spots. So if you loose control, there's first green, then stone-beds, then hay and last a hard barrier. This allows even motorcyclists on the track to have a significant chance of survival. It's not the fall that kills you, it's the high speed impact on an immobile object. So when you race, be responsible to you and others. Stay on the track.

morkfromork 13y ago

I have driven across the country a few times. There's not much traffic once you are beyond the suburbs around the major cities. Even in densely populated areas it's common for highway traffic to cruise at 75+. 100+ in a high-performance car is not too extreme.

lucaspiller 13y ago
As a Brit I find this quite hilarious. On our motorways the speed limit is 70mph, but pretty much everyone cruises along at 90mph+.
- DanBC 13y ago
  Depends on the motorway. And while there are plenty of people going at 90+ that's not most people. I'd guess most people are doing about 80. Unless there's a police car visible, when everyone drops to 68 and there's a huge tailback. Or they're on the M25.
- WA 13y ago
  As a German, it's even more hilarious. I do 100mph on the Autobahn most of the time and still get passed by Audis, BMWs, Porsches, Mercedes driving 125mph. I never understood why you can drive only 70mph in the States in perfect conditions with looong roads, extremely long view distance, nothing in the way. Makes no sense to me.
  - podperson 13y ago
    There's quite a bit of discussion about the driving cultures of the US vs. Germany. In particular, Germans appear to think that you should pay attention when driving. The US attitude to driving is best exemplified by the fact that most family cars now have 2-3 cup holders per seat and two or more video screens.
  - wglb 13y ago
    Not all of the roads, out west, for example, are as well engineered as the Autobahn. But you do have a good point--this doesn't account for all of the difference.