Take that, Brock Yates: NYC to LAX in 27 hours, 25 minutes

Yeah, but does it meet the "Q-ship that blends into traffic" end of the equation? 90% of Americans can't identify the Alfa logo on a car, but they're distinctive.

 

I'm in a town of 35,000 and there are a couple of A-R here in town.
Very distinctive logo.
But for my money, this is the top of the heap here.

 

Makes me wonder if a V8 Dodge Charger might fit the bill. Fast, roomy, and bonus: looks like a cop car.

 

But are steaming piles of shit.

 

For handling, safety and reliability while travelling 2,900 miles at 125 + mph, with three people and a bunch of electronics in the cabin? If money is no object, and on these builds it largely seems to be, I'd go MB or Audi first. I can't imagine how crippled up you'd be after riding coast to coast in the back seat of a Shelby Mustang. The Shelby has the same drawbacks as the Corvette as well.

 

And both feature snakes...but only one has the snake eating someone!*




*technically, supposedly the snake is giving birth to the man, a la a rebirth the way a snake is able to shed its skin to improve itself. Both come from the shield of a Medieval saracen knight killed by a member of the Visconti family, the founders of Milan, the home of Alfa.

 

Just for comparison's sake, the record distance for the Rolex 24 at Daytona is 2,876.85 miles (a closed circuit race track with high banks). For Le Mans, it's 3,361 miles (a closed circuit on public roads). For these guys to average over 100 mph on public freeways over 27 hours is mind-boggling, crazy and "glad I wasn't anywhere near getting passed at better than twice my speed" lucky.

 

Three times your speed at some parts of the trip.

 

Nod. I'm too lazy to go back and look, but wasn't the top speed something like 168 mph? You could glance in the rear view and see a car coming and have it blow by you completely unexpectedly. All it would take is one car changing lanes unexpectedly because they had no idea the car coming up from behind would be on them so quickly. Crazy fast on public roads.

It's a fun concept, but if one of those guys blew by me on the open road I'd dog-cuss them with all my breath.

 

Top speed was 193.

 

So. Damn near 3x a normal closing speed. Drivers in the U.S. don't believe in lane discipline. In Germany on the autobahn, you don't squat in the left lane and drive 65. All drivers stay mostly right except to pass, and high speed drivers overtaking on the left are respected and people get out of their way. If they're slacking on that, the oncoming car flashes his lights and they move. Here that left lane bandit cusses the fast guy overtaking and hunches over the wheel stubbornly.

It's not speed that kills, it's the difference in speeds.