AMG E63 Sedan

Segment
Sedan

If you're planning on driving coast-to-coast, you'd better leave a lot of time to do it. Google Maps estimates that, to get from New York to LA, it should take you upwards of 40 hours, or the better part of two days, driving non-stop. But these guys just did it in 27 hours and 25 minutes, setting a new record in the process.

That record is the famous Cannonball Run – a time-honored, film-immortalized (if highly illegal) tradition that dates back to 1933. That's when Erwin "Cannon Ball" Baker (for whom the feat is named) made the run in 53.5 hours.

Ever since, people have been trying to break the record, and some have succeeded. The last time the record fell was in 2013, when Ed Bolian and Dave Black cracked the 30-hour mark, making the run in 28 hours and 50 minutes in a Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG (precursor to today's S-Class coupe). So it's only fitting that the latest team broke that record (by almost an hour and a half) in another AMG Benz.

This time, as Road & Track reports in depth, Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and spotter Berkley Chadwick drove a modified 2015 Mercedes-AMG E63 sedan (like the one pictured), customized by Toman's AMS Performance garage with more power and all the gizmos they needed to evade the Law.

AMS tuned the E63's monstrous 6.2-liter twin-turbo V8 from its standard 518 horsepower to a nice, round 700. They also taped up parts of the exterior, and fitted an array of electronics that'd make a Best Buy look under-stocked – including three GPS units, a pair of radar detectors, a laser jammer, thermal scope, and police scanner. They even rolled out an array of 18 human lookouts to spot for police. All told, the team stopped for a total of just 22 minutes to refuel along the way, and averaged – AVERAGED! – 103 miles per hour along the 2,825-mile road trip from Manhattan to Redondo Beach.