Alex Roy Reveals Transcontinental Run, Claims Record

The statutes of limitation are up, and that means Alex Roy can release the media hounds, revealing a secret coast-to-coast run he says he and co-driver Dave Maher accomplished in a record-breaking 31 hours, 4 minutes last October. That revelation corresponds with a blitz including pieces in Wired and Esquire, and a memoir, The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World, HarperCollins will release this week. The numbers, Roy says, can be verified by a combination of time-coded video, toll and gas receipts, GPS tracking, eyewitnesses and other empirical info, though won't be certified by the Guinness people, who'd as soon down a cold Budweiser as verify an illegal act. All considered, Roy and Maher apparently bested not only an attempt made earlier this year by Richard Rawlings and Dennis Collins in a Ferrari 550, but also the famed "32:07" David Diem and Doug Turner clocked in a Ferrari 308 during the 1983 US Express run. The drive was also recorded for an upcoming documentary. More to come, including impressions from Spinelli and Johnson [UPDATE: and Wert], later today. (Full disclosure: Jalopnik acted as a third-party witness to the run's departure from Manhattan Classic Car Club in New York on the evening of October 7, 2006 and its arrival at Santa Monica Pier on the morning of October 9, 2006, and agreed not to disclose the trip until now.) [Team Polizei]

9:00 AM on Mon Oct 15 2007
By Mike Spinelli
52,546 views
22 comments

Comments

ET had a Cartruckgasm at 09:21 AM on 10/15/07
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That's some serious hardware and electronics ... Night vision video ftw.
Pontiac at 09:21 AM on 10/15/07
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I bet 20 bucks in his arrest by some popo department we never heard before.
-chet at 09:24 AM on 10/15/07
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Don't tell me he's watching Conan.
PeteJayhawk at 09:37 AM on 10/15/07
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Connectedness Index: 392
Brought to you by Acura TSX

I will openly and unabashedly admit to you all right here, right now: I want to be Alex Roy when I grow up.
Larry Forney at 10:22 AM on 10/15/07
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I wonder if he found that truth he was pursuing?
BuddyHinton at 10:45 AM on 10/15/07
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BMW should get some F1 Constructor's points for this. Nice!
vwminispeedster at 11:19 AM on 10/15/07
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@-chet: if he is watching Conan let's hope it's the episode with "The Ranch" aka Taurus SHO
EmilGH at 11:58 AM on 10/15/07
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@BuddyHinton: Totally!
Mokers at 11:59 AM on 10/15/07
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@vwminispeedster:

Where else would you keep all those horses?
CORNFIELD_RACER at 02:31 PM on 10/15/07
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So the "STORMNAV" and "SKYWARN" stickers on the GPS units are just to go with the "STORM CHASE TEAM" sticker on the back of the car right?
The_Finn at 02:49 PM on 10/15/07
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hmm if i did the math correct thats an avg speed of 89.94 if he followed the route google maps suggested
Frost Face at 04:06 PM on 10/15/07
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totally badass
larsenf at 04:51 PM on 10/15/07
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@PeteJäyhawk™: we have alot in commmon
s0crates82 at 05:00 PM on 10/15/07
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@The_Finn:

So, taking in account time for fuel, restrooms, stop signs, stop lights, and traffic... they were probably cruising at 100 to 110mph for the bulk of the trip.

That's extremely doable in an M5.
jknevitt at 05:11 PM on 10/15/07
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Google maps lists the drive as about 37 hours. Shouldn't be that hard to shave 6 hours off that if you really wanted to. :)
jknevitt at 05:12 PM on 10/15/07
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Correction, 41 hours. Still, I'm waiting for someone to break the 30 hour barrier.
inyearstocome at 06:09 PM on 10/15/07
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From somebody who has done a similar trip twice (New Brunswick, NJ to Oceanside, CA and back) Let me tell you those are awesome times. My best was a straight shot coming back, we spent one night just outside of the carlsbad cavern in NM, and went from their straight to NJ in a 36 hour leg (NM was way off course if you're going for shortest route.) Staying alert for 36 hours and driving between 2 people is VERY hard. My trip was in a 95 Nissan 240sx, and we definetly hit 140mph a few times on the way, but average was about 95mph.
powermatic at 08:27 PM on 10/15/07
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So why are we staring at a time log display that shows a total time of 34:46:57? As in, if that's not the actual time, why did they take a picture of it, and why was it posted here? Why, and again I'll ask you, why?

I'm thinking that they received bonus time for the excellent 19.9 miles per gallon.
From: WWW.AUTOBLOG.COM: TRACKBACK at 01:04 PM on 10/16/07
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Filed under: Etc.Click the shot above for over 80 pics, scans and images.If you were scouring the interwebs yesterday, you might have come across a story about Team Polizei's record-breaking transcontinental run from New York to L.A. Our friends over at Jalopnik were present at the start and finish...
dculberson at 12:35 AM on 10/21/07
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I'm a little late to the party, this being a busy week in my personal project car hell, but that just means I could use some of the .. "vitamins" .. that herr Roy was putting to good use on their trip.
AlexRoy at 05:54 AM on 10/22/07
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@Powermatic - The "34:46:57" GPS picture was taken in December 2005, on our exploratory recon drive.
From: WWW.AUTOBLOG.COM: TRACKBACK at 03:26 PM on 06/12/08
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Filed under: Etc., Lifestyle, CelebritiesYou may remember Alex Roy from his book, The Driver, about his team's record-breaking run across the U.S. in a BMW M5, but he's also a deep automotive insider that gets information from a number of cloaked sources who wear dark sunglasses and pass manilla...