sprfrkr

Both the Cannoball movies are good fun and a blast for a car guy to watch. Even CBR2 was good and made me lust after Sinatra's Daytona which is a pretty unheralded car. Of course, the two chicks in the Lambo sold it.

linderpat

Conversely, Steve McQueen's reputation would have been diminished had he been in it

XS29L9B

+1

Burt Reynolds was the right guy for this role.


And look what the opening score did for Ray Stevens' career...

Chris Lockhart

That's what I always heard. The trailer doesn't show it as well, but if you watch the full scene you can see an obvious edit of two different shots. The first shot the roof it fully intact as the rear tire of the truck is coming off of it. Then they switch to a different angle and suddenly the roof is crushed.

Hacker, you're right about the Brock Yates book about the Cannonball. GREAT read. As was said almost everything in the movie actually happened in one way or another over the course of several years of running the race. I definitely highly recommend the book. It also has a breakdown of what cars actually ran in the legit races, and lists their times. The Porsches didn't do as well as they should've. The Ferrari Daytona of Yates and Gurney was an awesome car though.

Vilhuer

McQueen version would not have been comedy at all. When he died only then Reynolds came in and it was changed. It would have been possibly equally serious as LeMans.

mark kibort

does rubber tires filled with air make the 6000lb truck weigh less?

Vilhuer

No unless other filler option is lead but it spreads weight around compared to something like solid metal rail wheel which weights less.

mark kibort

actually the wheels and tires weigh near 1000lbs each and the trucks in this time period were more like 10,000lbs to 15,000lbs

this tire doesnt deflect much at the tread. (contact area) but the tire is only filled with 10psi, so its like a shockabsorber to the truck. that force is spread out evenly on the roof, and that fact that its filled with air, doesnt do much more than if it was a steam roller!

Wisconsin Joe

Well, it would have been a serious treatment of a rather ridiculous event. There were a lot of absolutely hilarious moments during the actual races. 2 priests in a Ferrari were actually 3 in a Mercedes - one was Pete Brock. The "ambulance getting pulled over and explaining that 'the Senator's wife' needed to go to LA by ground because of cysts on her lungs" was real (minus Dom DeLuise).

But Reynold's influence, strained budgets and a tragic accident during a stunt scene shoot turned the production into a fiasco and the movie into a farce.

The story is told in the book. It's a fascinating read, for the story of the first movie (Yates had nothing to do with the other 2), the races, and the overall mentality that spawned them.

Vilhuer

As far as movies go. Gumball rally is probably best result about the subject even though its comedy. Cars and especially how they are used is definitelly better than in many others.

XS29L9B

Having been coast to coast via automobile on more than a couple dozen occasions, I sometimes think about the movie and what role I could've had

I usually am driving something interesting when I go, but no video...

One interesting story I have, which might not even be true, is about a trip across one very boring state where my co-driver and I thought it would be interesting to set the cruise control at twice the posted limit.

Anyways, after about 20-25 minutes, one of us had to use the restroom. The other, once we took an exit, manned the fuel pump. After fueling, then going inside for a receipt, we both emerged, re-entered the vehicle and got to the edge of the parking lot.

Looking both ways, we noticed at the intersection about 100 yards away, a tractor trailer moving through. As it moved, behind, and on the ramp, positioned to see the highway and what was below, was a trooper. When the truck moved and we saw this, we both got a sinking feeling. Now, what to do?

We gingerly pulled from the station, signaled right, and hit the highway. Slow and easy... We figured he didn't have any way of knowing who was previously driving... And the trooper? He never moved from his place.

So why was he there? Looking for a UFO? After all, we were in the middle of nowhere, with more cattle than cars.

What prompted this? I believe it was the same "imbedded loops" which the DOT monitors traffic speeds (for state use, Google maps, etc.), then told a trooper to go find the UFO.

As I said earlier, none of this could be true. All fictional, right? ...I've got more stories


Cannonball...

z driver 88t

Tangentially related, if you've never seen the real 928 from the real Cannonball there is a documentary called "32 Hours 7 minutes" that has interviews with the original participants as well as Alex Roy's attempt at breaking the record in his M5.

The 928 team was very cool in that they added an extra 19 gallon soft fuel tank in the hatch (IIRC). I seem to remember them saying they only stopped 3 times for fuel on the whole trip.

http://www.32hours7minutes.com/

mark kibort

real life funy! strong roofs!

hacker-pschorr

No, but the size, more so the giant contact patch spreads the weight out so much it causes far less damage than say....the same truck with a 6" wide wheel & tire.

Ever see a tractor (where those tires come from). You know why they are so large? It's not just for traction, but also to limit the damage to the soil as they drive around the crops so they don't dig in like a narrower / smaller tire would.

Same goes for snow. If you want to drive around the deep stuff you want to float on top, not dig in.


That's why we have school buses like this in my area:

James Bailey

big farm tractor tires are often filled with water.....the huge amount of extra weight adds...(drum Roll ).... traction !!!