32 Hours 7 Minutes

November 23, 2005 1:01 PM

32 Hours 7 Minutes is all it took to drive from New York to LA. via Gizmodo
posted by blue_beetle (43 comments total)

Wow, great post. Thanks! Man, that's fast. It reminds me of Gumball 3000 but better. BTW, great footage on Google video.
posted by tomplus2 at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2005

Didn't sound impressive until I did the math... 76.673 mph. Average freeway driving with pit stops and no excessive speed is about 55-60 mph.
posted by rolypolyman at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2005

I get 88 mph average, rolypolyman.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:18 PM on November 23, 2005

This looks brilliant. Great DIY/folk art sort of sensibility. I couldn't see where it was going to be available for viewing.
posted by docpops at 1:21 PM on November 23, 2005

I drove from Stamford, CT to Madison, WI in my Kia Rio, and made it in good time. Of course, I had no cruise control, and turning on the air conditioning meant that I could actually watch the gas meter move down as I drove. This wouldn't have been a problem had it not been the end of August.

I drove mainly on highway 80, so it was a 65 limit the whole way. I typically drive 9 miles over, and can draft higher if I get in a good pack. In all, it took me about 18 hours. Would have been shorter if I'd remembered to pack the damn catheter. (ewwwwww)

The only way I could imagine taking part in a race like this is if I got to ride with the two hot girls dressed in leather and driving the Lambrogini.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:25 PM on November 23, 2005

Nice - Done it in just under 3 days..
posted by yonnage at 1:34 PM on November 23, 2005

Mapquest sez: 2779.17 mi., 41 hours 30 minutes (which would mean 71.74 mph). So at 32 hours 7 min, the average speed is 86.53 mph.
posted by beagle at 1:49 PM on November 23, 2005

The trailer looks like it was edited by students of the MTV School of Computer BLEEPS and Jump Cuts.
posted by wfrgms at 1:50 PM on November 23, 2005

I've got to be the one that says these guys were idiots!
posted by HuronBob at 2:10 PM on November 23, 2005

It's a much nicer drive if you take a week.
posted by eatitlive at 2:26 PM on November 23, 2005

Two guys at Car and Driver did this ten years ago, but they never stopped for gas
They modded a Jetta TDI with a extra tank and averaged 73 MPH at 43 MPG. Full article here, although it's scanned pages on a Jetta forum. Well worth the read and funny as hell.

<a href=
posted by cosmicbandito at 2:26 PM on November 23, 2005 [1 favorite]

Lots of articles about people driving fast on "open courses". I like this one though. Now lets see it with a camera strapped to the bumper of one of these cars.
posted by howling fantods at 2:34 PM on November 23, 2005

Thanks for the post- I'm now looking very forward to seeing this.
posted by id at 2:39 PM on November 23, 2005

How could you possibly do this without encountering traffic in the urban areas? I guess you'd have to time the trip carefully so that you're far away from any cities at rush hour. I doubt you could do this today, since "rush hour" in NYC and LA is just about all day.
posted by purple_frogs at 2:42 PM on November 23, 2005

Good trailer, might be worth checking out.
posted by zardoz at 2:44 PM on November 23, 2005

cosmicbandito -

Thanks for that link. Phillips has been my favorite C/D writer for years and that story was great.

Another good cross-country drive story (only CA to WI, but given the car . . .) can be found at http://www.open.org/joerger/north.html. The story was written by Peter Egan of Road & Track, my favorite automotive writer anywhere.
posted by Ickster at 2:49 PM on November 23, 2005 [1 favorite]

Was his name Kowalski?
posted by clevershark at 3:06 PM on November 23, 2005

LA to NY in 32 hours? Pfft! Try Tierra del Fuego to Alaska in 23 days.

Actually, I seem to recall an old Popular Science article where two guys set out to drive from LA to NY in 48 hours, but since it was Popular Science, they were doing the speed limit.
posted by zanni at 3:53 PM on November 23, 2005

I drove Sac to Ventura once in a little over 4 hours, back in the day when there was a lot less trafic on the I-5. 400 miles door to door and I did it on a single tank of gas (barely), stopping once for food.
posted by fshgrl at 3:53 PM on November 23, 2005

I've got to be the one that says these guys were idiots!

Ok...and I'll be the one to say they're idiots who belong in jail.
posted by duck at 3:54 PM on November 23, 2005

Direct link to trailer.
posted by Nelson at 3:59 PM on November 23, 2005

Nothing's better than the M5 BMW tricked out as a German police car that runs the Gumball race regularly. They're also quick to point out stupid driving vs smart driving -- even if they do turn on their police lights to make traffic part.
posted by geoff. at 4:02 PM on November 23, 2005

there goes the Challenger, being chased by the big blue meanies on wheels. the vicious traffic squad cars are after our lone driver, the last American hero, the the electric centaur, the demi-god, the super driver of the Golden West! two nasty nazi cars are close behind the beautiful lone driver. the police numbers are getting closer, closer, closer to our sole hero in his soul mobile -- yeah baby! they're about to strike, they going to get him, smash him, RAPE . . . the last beautiful free soul on this planet.

[okay, so it would have been better if someone here used the name super soul, but what can you do?]
posted by kowalski at 4:08 PM on November 23, 2005 [1 favorite]

and did they see anything underway ?
posted by Substrata at 4:10 PM on November 23, 2005

looks compelling, anyway.
posted by Busithoth at 5:03 PM on November 23, 2005

I once drove with two friends from New York City to Denver in 32 hours, each of us taking four hour shifts behind the wheel. We did take a break in St Louis to check out the great flood of that summer.
posted by liam at 5:25 PM on November 23, 2005

LA to Oregon in 6 minutes.
posted by Wet Spot at 5:31 PM on November 23, 2005

I drove from Boston to Portland, OR in 54 hours, stopping only for gas and toilets, as well as one stop to cook a meal. In a mini-van.

3 man rotation: sit as an awake passenger 4 hrs, drive 4 hrs, sleep in back 4 hrs.

It was pretty hellish, but we were on tour and were done. Time to go home, get clean, reunite with girls, etc.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:41 PM on November 23, 2005

The SO has a patch someplace for doing 1000 miles in 24 hours on a motorcycle once. It was probably early 80's. People used to do things like that. Now they don't.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 5:46 PM on November 23, 2005

Previous video, by Michel Gondry.
posted by cillit bang at 5:49 PM on November 23, 2005

unrepentanthippie -
1000 miles in 24 hours is passé, the new trick is 1500 in 24 hours.
posted by madajb at 6:20 PM on November 23, 2005

I second Ickster's link. Peter Egan is a gem.
posted by machaus at 7:01 PM on November 23, 2005

Heh. I did it in 50 hours including 7 hours of sleep in Colorado door to door from West Hollywood to Manhattan... top speed, somewhere north of 140mph. Fortunately the Utah State Police (go Beehive State!) only caught me at 99. Le sigh.

Fun stuff. I've driven across the country 3 times now, and it's been fun every time.
posted by fet at 8:57 PM on November 23, 2005

It moved my browser, but not my heart...
posted by benzo8 at 9:27 PM on November 23, 2005

Man, I hate traveling with people who are all about making good time. Sucks all the fun out of the trip and you get to the end feeling like ass and remembering nothing of what you saw. Might as well fly, at least you don't have to pee into a bottle along the way. Or endanger your fellow drivers by being sleep deprived.
posted by emjaybee at 9:41 PM on November 23, 2005

Durham, NC to Berkeley, CA 56.5 hours solo door-to-door. One 2hour sleep stop, one 8hour sleep stop. My speed averaged something like 55mph even with all the pit stops and everything. I felt pretty good about it.
posted by garethspor at 9:55 PM on November 23, 2005

Entirely cool. I second the arrest, etc. Still, doesn't detract from the coolness.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:58 PM on November 23, 2005

Nothing's better than the M5 BMW tricked out as a German police car that runs the Gumball race regularly.

Geoff, that's Team Polizei - Gumball 144. Alex Roy was my favorite driver when I watched a number of Gumball documentaries a while back.
posted by mrbill at 12:18 AM on November 24, 2005

I thought my San Diego to Nashville in 40 hours (48 hours counting two 4-hour naps) was pretty impressive, but yeah, these guys have me beat.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 1:12 AM on November 24, 2005

Boston to Chicago: 18 hours, and that was with some traffic.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:32 AM on November 24, 2005

Atlanta to Pasadena in 47 hours. Via the northern route since I had never seen some of the north central states, so it was almost 2600 miles. Pulling a trailer. And I stopped to eat several times, stopped at a Motel 6 and took a shower.

Wouldn't do it that way again.
posted by JParker at 9:31 AM on November 24, 2005

For a simpler cross-country trip, see how long it takes to drag across the U.S. in Google Maps, zoomed all the way in.
posted by FeldBum at 10:13 AM on November 24, 2005

It's a much nicer drive if you take a week.
posted by eatitlive at 2:26 PM PST on November 23 [!]

Man, I hate traveling with people who are all about making good time. Sucks all the fun out of the trip and you get to the end feeling like ass and remembering nothing of what you saw.
posted by emjaybee at 9:41 PM PST on November 23 [!]

Total rubbish.

I did many drives from Ottawa to Calgary and back for trips to the mountains. Always did it "one-shot" style, doing shifts with the other drivers. Maybe stopping for a greasy breakfast. Typical time was 42 hours. Its super-fun: you get into a weird hallucinatory state and have lots of tripped out conversations, with entirely legal drugs.

Of course, you're pretty bagged when you get there. Maybe a day of recovery time before you can start skiing or climbing or whatever, but you usually need that time to check out conditions, buy groceries and secure permits, so its all goood.

One year, I drove back from British Colombia to Montreal with my then-girlfriend. This time, we were going to take our time. Sleep at night. Camp. See the country. It was a total mistake. You are just as tired at the end of the six days as at the end of 42 hours. You still feel like you are doing nothing but driving constantly -- except this has been dragged out over nearly a week. You're fooling yourself if you think you're seeing much more of the country.

And, newsflash: most of this continent is exceedingly boring. There is just no compelling reason at all not to drive through the plains in the middle of the night (though its pretty cool if there's a big thunderstorm).
posted by bumpkin at 1:07 PM on November 24, 2005