2016 - 70 HOUR: LOS ANGELES to NEW YORK - CANNONBALL RUN 

A road trip is planned to beat the record set by Tesla Motors recently when they demonstrated the feasibility of long distance travel with their Model S car. The Tesla team completed the journey from Los Angeles to New York - a distance of more than 5500km - in just over 76 hours, including charging to give an average speed of 44.97 mph. This was made possible by the long range of their electric vehicles and the network of high-powered charging stations that already exist in the US and are currently being installed in Europe.

Once the UK record is taken, it is planned to stage an event from Los Angeles to New York, to encompass the 3418 mile journey in under 70 hours, hoping for a sub 65 hour record, with only twelve stops for refreshments and refueling. The record to beat is 3 days and 4 hours, set by the Tesla Cross Country Rally Team on February the 3rd 2014

CANNONBALL RUN - OFFICIAL ROUTE

TESLA FACTS & FIGURES

On Sunday morning, the Tesla Cross Country Rally team completed its record setting trip across the US. These are the statistics:

Total trip time - 76 hours, 5 minutes

Total time spent driving - 59 hours 34 minutes

Other “non-drive” time - 34 minutes (Used to put on chains before crossing Vail Pass)

Total charging time - 15 hours 57 seconds

Total miles travelled - 3,427

Longest distance between Supercharger locations - 247 miles from Flagstaff, AZ to Blanding, UT

Longest drive time between Superchargers - 4 hours, 56 minutes, 29 seconds to travel 162.5 miles from Silverthorne, CO to Cheyenne, WY

This overnight leg included a blizzard, more than 12 inches of snow, icy roads, and high winds, resulting in significant traffic delays, the closure and then re-opening of I-70, the closure of the I-25, and the re-routing of the drive to CO-14 and then US85.

Total number of closed roads & highways encountered - Two (I-70 and I-25, both in Colorado)

Lowest temperature encountered:  -4F / -20C

During the drive between Albert Lea, MN and La Crosse, WI Superchargers.

Number of gasoline-powered support vans that broke down - One

Energy drinks consumed - Enough to power 1,400 lead-acid batteries. This is an estimate.

Tesla uses lithium-ion batteries, which are friendlier to the environment.

Fuel saved per car - 136 gallons

Assumes distance of 3,400 miles and average of 25 mpg for a new gas-powered car.

Dollar amount of fuel savings per car - $435
Assumes $3.20 per gallon of gas.

THE ROUTE - BEGINNING AND END GOOGLE

The new Supercharger route that spans the US cuts a northern pass, taking drivers close to natural and man-made attractions, such as Arches National Park, Colorado Monument, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Badlands National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the Hualapai Mountains. We didn’t have any time for sightseeing, but the views out the Model S windows were amazing. Here’s the exact route we took, including the distance between each Supercharger.

TOMCAT DC50 - Three drivers will take the wheel as any one feels jaded, to comply with national rest regulations. The car is capable of 100mph, but the drivers know that they must not break any speed restrictions - and will have to deal with regular traffic between peaks; the morning and evening rush hours.

Help with the development and running cost of this event is welcomed, by way of sponsorship or contributions in kind. If this is of interest to you or your company please contact : Chris@Bluebird-Electric.Net

THE CAR -  ECOSTAR DC50 STATISTICS

The vehicle is a two seat sports city car featuring cartridge refueling, as follows:

ENDURANCE EVENT HISTORY

MOTORING EVENT - LANDS END to JOHN O'GROATS

Motoring events between the two extremities have been held since the first decade of the 20th century, when the Auto-Cycle Union organised a series of runs for motorcycles. In 1911, Ivan B. Hart-Davies became the holder of the final Land's End to John o' Groats record for solo motorcycles. Riding his 3.5 hp single-speed Triumph, he covered the 886 miles in 29 hours, 12 minutes. As his average speed exceeded the then-maximum of 20 mph, further official record attempts were banned by the A. C. U.

The Motor Cycling Club (which had been running the London to Land's End Trial since 1908, still held today, at least in name) put on an annual Land's End to John o' Groats Run from 1923 to 1928 which included cars as well as motorcycles. These events were also known as the End to End. In 2006, BBC Television ran a series of three programmes called The Lost World of Friese-Greene covering Claude Friese-Greene's 1920s-era road trip from Land's End to John o' Groats. The trip had originally been filmed using the Biocolour process, developed by Claude's father William Friese-Greene and the film had degraded. The original print of Claude's film was subjected to computer enhancement by the British Film Institute to remove the flickering problem inherent in the Biocolour process.

In 1984, Neal Champion covered 884 miles from John o' Groats to Land's End in 11 hours, 14 minutes, on a Kawasaki GPZ750 Turbo.

On 17 September 1988, Andrew Frankel and Mark Connaughton drove from Land's End to John o'Groats in a standard production Alfa Romeo 164 in 12 hours 30 minutes, including stops for refuelling.

In 1993, John Brown initiated the Land's End to John o' Groats Historic Reliability Trial, a race for vintage road vehicles. The race is held each December and is a tough, three-day rally for old and classic cars, built between the 1920s and 1970s. The route takes a long 1,400-mile (2,300 km) route, using remote upland roads of the west of England, Wales (during the night), the Pennines and Scotland. Medals are awarded in gold, silver and bronze categories.

On 15–16 April 1997, Hugh Edeleanu drove the route in a JCB excavator in a time of 22 hours, 10 minutes and 30 seconds.

In June 2001, Wayne Booth became the first person to do the journey by motorcycle without stopping; the 37-year-old completed the historic trip in 14 hours and 52 minutes, averaging 57 mph, on a modified 1,000cc Honda Varedero, complete with additional 74 litre petrol tank. The meticulously researched route of 854 miles passed through just two sets of traffic lights and was completed within all highway regulations, law and speed limits. Booth and the dozen strong support team raised over £1,000 for The National Childbirth Trust and MacMillan Cancer Relief.

On 22 May 2011, Kevin Sharpe and David Peilow completed the first end-to-end run from John o' Groats to Land's End in an electric car over two days, using only charging points available to the general public, in a Tesla Roadster Sport.

On 7 August 2011, Darren Whitehead & Tony Dwight travelled 1071 miles from John o' Groats to Lands' End (including crossing the Welsh border) in 5 days using two ride-on Wheel Horse Lawn Mowers. They also raised money for charity during the trip which was named The Lawn Way Down.

ORGANISATIONS

There are two organisations supporting people undertaking the journey.

1. The Land's End–John o' Groats Association is a non-commercial organisation established in 1983 for "those who have completed the epic journey from Land’s End to John o' Groats, or vice versa, by any means in a single trip".

2. The Land's End John o' Groats Club, which is sponsored by the company that operates facilities at Land's End and John o' Groats, the end points. It holds an Annual Awards ceremony to select the most notable 'end-to-enders' each year.

LINKS:

http://www.familyonabike.org/other%20info%20pages/awards.html

http://www.endtoenders.co.uk/

https://maps.google.com/

VAUXHALL AMPERA endurance ev attempt 2010_ampera_e-revs

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_27-5-2010-12-26-15

http://www.formaplex.com/news/formaplex-launches-electric-car-world-record-attempt/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/racing-green-endurance-srzero-electric-car-to-make-16-000-mile-t/

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/packages/end-to-end/

http://www.discoveradventure.com/challenges/land-s-end-to-john-o-groats-cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%27s_End_to_John_o%27_Groats

A taste for adventure capitalists

It's about time we had an EV compatible with battery or hydrogen fuel cell technology. The Tomcat DC50 by Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd may well be the vehicle that changes all that from 2015.

BLUEPLANET BE3  |   EDUCATION   |  SOLARNAVIGATOR

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