You may remember Alex Roy as a member of Team Polizei, which drove a BMW M3 across the continental U.S. in the unofficial record time of 31 hours and 4 minutes in late 2006. The record is unofficial because maintaining an average speed of over 90 MPH for a day and a half isn't exactly... legal. You can read about the monumental effort required of Roy and his team in his book The Driver, or you could watch the video after the jump of Roy's appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last Tuesday. Having met Roy, the amazing thing about him is that he's fully aware of how dangerous and crazy his endeavor was, and on some level agrees with those who take offense with what he did. It's a disarming quality that makes him easy to talk to even if you're one those who disagree with his need for speed. That comes through in his interview with David Letterman, who belabors the illegality of Roy's record run a bit too vociferously in our opinion. Roy takes it like a champ and we think, by the end, wins Dave over. And once you've got Dave, you've got Paul, too. Check out the video after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Chris!
[Source: YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
winky132 @ Jan 11th 2008 12:39PM
Actually it was a BMW M5. This is very clearly shown in the video.
AMG @ Jan 11th 2008 12:41PM
m5 man m5. m3's I6 wouldnt make it
Lucas @ Jan 11th 2008 12:56PM
Dude has HUGE balls. On so many levels. First to do it and second to publicize it!
Lucas @ Jan 11th 2008 12:57PM
Dude has HUGE balls. On so many levels. First to do it and second to publicize it!
Apu @ Jan 11th 2008 12:59PM
Doing high speeds largely on wide American highways in a modern performance luxury car is hardly dangerous. The only :danger: is gettin pulled over.
dan spalinger @ Jan 11th 2008 1:01PM
Great book...my review on offroad.com here:
http://race.off-road.com/race/Rally+Racing/The-Driver-Book-Review/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/478867?contextCategoryId=35357
Delayedz @ Jan 11th 2008 1:02PM
His book is incredible by the way, for anyone that hasn't gotten a chance to read it yet.
dan spalinger @ Jan 11th 2008 1:03PM
Great book...my review of it on offroad.com to be found here:
http://race.off-road.com/race/Rally+Racing/The-Driver-Book-Review/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/478867?contextCategoryId=35357
Mr. Oak @ Jan 11th 2008 4:29PM
Andrew: "To all of you talking about how 'dangerous' it is to drive 90mph cross country - come on - its not that fast - people do it in Germany everyday".
Hey dude how old are you? judging by your statement I'd say 15 - 18. ...and No, people in Germany don't do this everyday. No place in all of Germany is 2,779+ miles from anywhere else in Germany. Here is a list of reasons why this is dangerous and stupid.
1. Everyone on the autobahn are fully aware of and are playing by the same rules. Take racing for example, if you cannot maintain an agreed upon minimum speed, you become a danger to everyone who can. There were at least 300 million people who were unaware that he was going to pull this stunt. He was a danger to them all.
2. I am also somewhat of a distance driver. In order to maintain 65 mph avg. from NYC to Miami., There were spots where doing 120+ mph was required. NYC to Miami, Fl = 1297 miles. In order to avg. 90 mph. This guy had to hitting speeds in excess of 150mph for sustained periods. At 155 mph. a car covers a distance of 3 football fields every second.
3. Fatigue, I prefer to drive at night. Less traffic, less cops. The downside is developing tunnel vision and mental fatigue. You get so locked in on what's way down the road, that you pheripheral vision suffers. Doing this for 5 or 6 hours straight, you can also become incoherent.
4. Deer, bears, Cops, Trucks, and lane cloggers all working against you.
I am willing to bet that if this same guy were to try this again, he would either get killed, or end up killing someone.
BTW: My best time NYC to Miami is 17 hours 10 mins. with two drivers in an A6. The two hours 49 mins saved was not worth the risk.
Andrew @ Jan 11th 2008 5:10PM
@ Mr Oak
Your argument should really stand on its own without having to resort to personal attacks or speculation of my age.
See 'Huecifer' post below - I think he sums it up nicely for you and counters every single one of your concerns.
Andrew @ Jan 11th 2008 1:05PM
I noticed he had a patch of the Spanish flag on his jacket shoulder - anyone know the significance?
and yeah it was an M5
DriverG @ Jan 11th 2008 1:34PM
"Having met Roy, the amazing thing about him is that he's fully aware of how dangerous and crazy his endeavor was, and on some level agrees with those who take offense with what he did. It's a disarming quality that makes him easy to talk to even if you're one those who disagree with his need for speed."
Also having met and interviewed Roy, this quality is called "B.S." Either that or he's a sociopath.
matt @ Jan 11th 2008 2:53PM
That's one of his Guardia Civil jackets with replica patches/badges from the Spanish police. He has many from all sorts of different countries. No real significance.
Andrew @ Jan 11th 2008 3:04PM
Makes sense now that I think about it - Alex Roy has been known to dress up in police uniform depending on the country he is in.
To all of you talking about how 'dangerous' it is to drive 90mph cross country - come on - its not that fast - people do it in Germany everyday. Plus when Alex did this drive it was with a co-pilot and the help of a car full of electronics - he was probably the most alert and safest person on the road
Andy @ Jan 11th 2008 1:42PM
How sad to give this adolescent egomanic a platform. I hope prison time is in his future before he kills someone.
Huecifer @ Jan 11th 2008 4:02PM
I call BS on everyone who whines about this guy driving fast. You know how many people I see EVERY day on my commute (rush hour) driving 90+ mph in their SUV's and malibus while talking on the phone? This guy had
1: a car built to be driven safely at 100+ mph
2: a copilot
3: a carefully planned route, avoiding busy roads
4: a PLANE scouting ahead for him
5-?: way more driver hours than most people, experience doing this kind of thing, GPS, etc. etc.
I'd be willing to bet that during the entire 32 hours, he was probably the safest driver on the road within 20 miles of himself.
Stop being self righteous. If there were more drivers as aware and as good as him around the roads would be much safer than they are now.
Andy @ Jan 11th 2008 4:21PM
Huh? I'm sure he was safer than someone else drining 90mph+ on the freeway, but what does that have to do with anything? So that makes it safe?
Thanks for playing, though.
Andrew @ Jan 11th 2008 4:44PM
@ Andy
Did you think about this at all or are you just going off of what's popular to say in these cases?
Huesifer is trying to tell you that Alex Roy at 90 MPH is probably safer on the road and less likely to endanger other drivers or himself than say a grandma doing 45 on the highway after an eye exam.
Accidents happen because of lack of attention - the point is that Alex was much more aware of everything around him than anyone else on the road because he was aided by a co-pilot, GPS, thermal imagining, months of planning etc etc - its nearly impossible that he would have caused an accident.
You can drive safely at any speed with the right planning, equimpent and training.
Andy @ Jan 11th 2008 4:53PM
Dude, are YOU thinking?
You say:
"You can drive safely at any speed with the right planning, equimpent and training. "
On public roads? STAY THE f#$* AWAY FROM ME.
The only place to race is on a closed TRACK. Period. I do, and welcome your participation on two wheels or four.
Grow up.
Andrew @ Jan 11th 2008 5:19PM
@Andy
I will try to stay away from you on public roads but I have to say it may be a little difficult to steer the ThrustSSC at 700MPH when I attempt to break this record. Stay in the right lane if you can.
Wish me luck - oh and I will be doing it blindfolded with 'Mr Oaks' grandma as my copilot.