My Cannonball Run Europe, 2002 Saturday, October 10 Arrived at Horsley Towers, first ones there, soon joined by several other crews. By about 6pm there were about 30 cars there (half the field) and some of us went out for a Chinese. Got back to the Towers at about 9pm and started drinking. Big mistake. Sunday, October 11 Up at 8am, went to breakfast, threw it back up an hour later. Unable to sleep any more so went out and prepared the car. Signed on, got allocated number 86, received race style numbers and further sponsor stickers.
Hid in car for a couple of hours, trying to get some sleep. A few of us had worked out that starting so late on Sunday (4pm start) it was likely that the first stint would be through the night.
4pm start, 1 minute intervals, we left at about 5pm. Met up with a few other cars in the car park down the drive, sorted out what channel to use on the PMR radios (3km range) left in convoy of 7 cars. James and I leading in the Porsche. Down to Dover for a 19:00 ferry, arriving in Calais approx 21:30 local time. Mission 1 stated that it was approx. 100 miles to Dover, then further 800 down to St Rafael, south coast of France. Drove through the night, approx 100mph mostly, but too many fuel stops wasted time.
Monday, October 12 Got about 40 minutes sleep in a layby (our convoy stopped for total of one hour including refuel). Drove through mountains, found the camera crew along the way. They asked us to double back and then come round again once they’d set up the cameras. We were happy to oblige. Some way further down the road we met up with them again, came round a corner to see a cameraman sitting in the back of the mpv with his camera, Jamie in the RX7 pulled up beside me and we waved at the camera, then I changed down and overtook closely followed by the rx7 and the others. One by one we all went round. I suspect that part will make it on to the tv footage.
Early afternoon arrived at St Rafael, only to be told that we had up to an hour to have some food and then we’d have to leave again. Beautiful place, swimming pools and a golf course leading down to the sea. Sunshine, 30 degrees, awesome.
Left mid afternoon after our hour of food/leg stretching, mission 2 would take us to Monaco and then on to Imola in Italy.
Late afternoon got caught in some traffic in Monaco, went through the famous tunnel, back up to the main road which was a series of short tunnels (500m) and short curved bridges (1000m) for some miles.
Early evening it started to spit, in Italy by now, just past Genova. MR2 wanted to pull in to put roof back on. Z1 turbo started making some nasty belt noises so Jamie and I began fixing it. Alternator was obviously in trouble, we ended up fabricating a belt from another part to replace the broken alternator belt. We later found out that the water pump had also seized and the oil pump had developed a crack so we wasted those 2.5 hours. Shame. Khiasanth and Mantula decided to arrange a breakdown recovery and possibly a hire car, meet us later at Imola. The remainder of the convoy then left for Imola, arriving approx 23:00 local time. All exhausted, food was dreadful, off to bed early (just after midnight).
Tuesday, October 13 Got up late, we knew that today was to be spent at the circuit at Imola.
Went to town to get front wheels on the Porsche rebalanced but everything was closed for lunch until 14:00.
Got wheels balanced, got some lunch, filled up with fuel, went to the track. Did about 200 track miles in the afternoon, Porsche was faultless.
Evo 7 had hit the wall in the morning at about 60mph, Westfield had spun at chicane and hit wall with back right corner. Chassis bent. Jenkins’ Subaru had blown head gasket. Found out the Lambo had broken down in France the night before and would be unlikely to continue the trip.
Craig’s Supra (webmaster for Cannonball website) had cracked radiator in France too, they were now in a Nissan Almera hire car. Khiasanth and Mantula were on their way to Imola in a hired Laguna, Z1 turbo having been stuck on a transporter back to the UK. Food again pretty poor but at least the Hotel Donatello had good beds and a great car park. Wednesday, October 14 Left at 06:00, clock started at 07:00, we needed all the help we could get. Our convoy all between 10 and 12 mph down on the “running variance” from our target mph. Mission 3 took us past Como, up the San Bernardino pass, into Switzerland, and then to Lichtenstein for lunch. Checkpoint there opened at 12:00, we were there 3 minutes later.
About 11:30 we had the V12 Aston with the two nutter Scots come past us. Porsche, RX7, Fiat Turbo Coupe gave chase.
Porsche overtook the Aston and then stayed ahead at between 150 and 170mph for about 20 minutes. Aston, Porsche, RX7 and Fiat led the way into the hotel/restaurant in Lichtenstein. Great food, great service, great views, but again we had an hour to turn around. Left there approx 13:00 to head for mission 4 close, Cologne in Germany. Target average mph originally 70mph for this leg, changed to 92.25mph. Damn.
Started chasing through Switzerland to try and get to unrestricted German roads, got reported by a Swiss truck driver for 'allegedly' overtaking on the hard shoulder at very high speed. ½ hour later slowed down when we came across Nat and Ross in the silver Prelude (whom we had lost after lunch somehow). 30 seconds later we pass an exit for a service area, police car pulls out and tucks in behind us in the Porsche. Prelude speeds up 10km/h and police stay with us. Damn. 20kms later the police pull us into a layby and check all our documents, then say we have been reported by a truck driver and we have to wait for him to catch up and give a statement. 30 minutes pass, they have their statement, he has identified a dark Porsche covered in stickers overtaking on the hard shoulder at some speed. They tell us to follow them back to the local cop shop, we then wait for an age (an hour) and then I get called in for interview/statement. I deny everything, say it must have been another Cannonball Porsche, was not me. 1 hour of this, but the truck driver did not get my registration so they have no evidence. After a total of 3 hours we are released, and promptly follow the speed limit to the German border.
By this time it is about 1600 and James and I are sure that in those 3 hours everyone else must have passed us, little knowing that the Swiss police have set up a roadblock elsewhere to catch some of our fellow Cannonballers. I put my toe down in Germany, achieve several high speed runs (up to 170mph in places) until we approach Karlsruhe and gridlocked traffic. We hit the hard shoulder at idle in 2nd, doing about 20 mph with hazard lights on. 15km later we switch to a different motorway and speed up again.
We cover the last 130 miles in to Cologne in just under 1 hour, entirely legally thanks to the German motorway speed limits (or lack thereof). Pull in to the hotel at about 19:30 to find that we are the 7th car in. Interesting….. Excellent food, lovely hotel, fantastic rooms, underground car park, comfy beds. SORTED! Thursday, October 15 Leave hotel at approx 08:15, mission 5 is to Nurburgring, approx 70 miles away. Target mph is unachievable due to local traffic (rush hour). Arrive Nurburgring approx 09:30, stop go checkpoint, next mission is back to Calais (500 miles). James and I decide to try and do a lap of the Nordschleife, regardless of our time. It’s clear we’re not going to win now and we have lost our convoy. Waste half an hour driving to Nordschleife and finding out that it’s not open until 17:45 because it’s been hired out by Renault for the day. I guess I’ll have to do that famous 14.1 mile “north loop” some other day…
Head out towards Belgium, get stopped by police for speeding, the Germans have a sense of humour and let us go with a caution. We later learn that they set up a roadblock here and fined people for illegal “rallying” on German public roads without the proper licenses. Seems they lost that sense of humour an hour after we’d been through there… Finally hit Belgian roads and they suck. Prefab concrete slabs and the bumpiest little 15km I’ve ever driven I think. By this time we are in league with the Escort and the MR2. How short our convoy has become.
Jamie and the RX7 are some way ahead of us now. At the start of today he was 5th so he’s pulling out all the stops. We learn later that he breaks down some 20km short of Calais with a blown oil pipe. Bummer. We’ve also lost a Ferrari to a crash or breakdown though we aren’t sure which. Amazing the rumours that filter through on mobile ‘phones and radios. Lunchtime get speed trapped in Belgium – they have set up a money trap which we coincidentally passed, whereby they have a radar trap some 3km before a service area on the motorway and they have police bikes pulling people in to the services. Porsche gets pulled and we join the ranks of local BMW’s and Merc’s been told off and fined. Informed that we are to pay 275 Euros in cash or the car will be impounded. James and I scrape that amount together and are on our way in 25 minutes. Our convoy of 3 head towards Calais at 10km/h over the speed limit and get there in good time for the second boat. It seems the mad scots were the only ones to make the 1st boat, though their Aston Martin is somewhat the worse for wear. The Aston has shot brakes, a noisy diff, and the gearbox is confused. The gearbox is a 5 speed auto that “learns” driving styles, and after the abuse of the last 5 days it has decided to only change into 5th gear at about 150mph. Whoops. Apparently they did get 195mph out of the thing at one stage. Bet that was exciting. :-)
On the second boat are ourselves, the Prelude, the FTO, Escort, MR2, and a few others. In total about 8 cars I think. Khiasanth and Mantula make it on to this boat too having ditched their Laguna. Khiasanth’s 964 will be waiting for him on his arrival in Dover. We arrive in Dover an hour and a bit later, approx 16:00 UK time. I spot the black 964 near the exit so pull in and wait for Khia and Mant, who join us about 10 mins later. Needless to say the other cannonball cars have long since departed but we are in no hurry now. We convoy (purple 993 and black 964) up the motorway, into Croydon, and to the Selsdon Park Hotel and Golf Club. Beautiful place, old stately home type of building, and about 8 cars are assembled on the rear lawn. Reminds me strangely of my old boarding house from secondary school…
It’s finally over, we wait for numerous cars to come in and get changed for dinner (black tie do). Dinner is due for 20:30, but we hold off until almost 22:00 before starting. Even then only 40 cars have arrived. How disturbing. Where is everyone? During the meal the Mustang boys turn up, as do Nic and Michelle (Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell, grey 964) and a few others. The winners were the guys who started in the V8 3 series (E36 with 4.6 V8 transplant). They blew the clutch at Imola and continued to Calais in a Ford Focus hire car, thus avoiding the police completely. Then again in Dover the get into another car and make it to Croydon in good time. The Aston boys were quicker, but a mite too quick by all accounts. No one is the least surprised by this. :-)
Nat and Ross come in 5th which they are ecstatic about – rightly so in their standard Prelude. They did well. We would have done much better if not for the Swiss Police but I think we are happy just to have made it to the end. Mind you, all the Porsches made it to the end without trouble. That is enough to make me happy, especially when I see the orange 1970 911 the next morning. That could be my car in 26 years time! Spirit of Cannonball goes to the guys in the Mustang, also known as “English” and “The Goose”. They deserve this completely, they were odds on favourite to never reach Dover and yet they completed the whole event. Incredible achievement, I think they have more to be proud of than anyone else amongst us. Friday, October 16 Quite a few sad faces when everyone departed today. I think this week has become engrained on everyone who took part. None of us will ever forget the events we were part of for this quite maniacal week. Several of us made some friends we are unlikely to lose touch with in the near future, having influenced each others lives in positive ways.
Admittedly there are people I will be glad to see the back of but no doubt they feel the same about me so live and let live. Bloody cops.
Now we just have to figure out what to change in preparation for next years event…. I think Khiasanth is after a 993, as is Craig, and Nat was talking about it too. Porsche rules! Whatever, I’m sure if we all enter next year we’ll end up as cohorts again, along with Jaaamie and his RX7, the loudest car I’ve ever heard on a public road. I’ll never drive through a tunnel again without hearing that exhaust in the back of my head. “That’s Jamie entering the tunnel... BAAAAAAAARRRRPP ...and that’s Jamie exiting the tunnel” :-) |
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