Cannonball Rallye Europe (1982)

I can find almost no information about this event. The story below was based on the information from this page written in German. The author of this page participated in the 1981 and 1982 Cannonball Europe races but I could not find his name.

The author planned to race again in the second Cannonball Europe, in 1982, but this time he wanted to finish closer to the front and thought a 500SE Mercedes to be the most suitable vehicle.

Having just received a company car, he sold his personal car and used the proceeds to rent a Mercedes 500SE (W126).

From a scrap yard he purchased a fuel tank of approximately 100 litres out of a truck which with the help of an additional fuel pump would pump fuel into the main tank.

He also obtained a device to block radio transmssions.

For his co-driver he was able to secure the top female driver, Elisabeth S., who he knew from a rallying club.

Their plan was to be disguised as wedding guests on their way to a ficticious wedding.

The event had received a lot of publicity and press and at the start on 27 March, 1982 in the north of Denmark, they decided against using the extra fuel tank and radio jammer.

All of the teams were worried about the bad publicity and right up until the start our author was considering cancelling, but decided to continue.

The first teams departed at 11 pm and our team departed in third position, at 11:03 pm.

Their disguise and use of a rental car helped them get through various inspections and border crossings.

Their strategy appeared to be paying off, and at a refuelling stop in Valencia they actually met the Porsche 930 that went on to win.

Between Valencia and Alicante, while travelling at around 180 km/h another car changed lanes into them and caused some minor damage and also a half-hour delay exchanging insurance details.

They crossed the mountains around the Sierra Nevada at night, cautiously refuelled, and then joined the coastal road to Marbella.

They finished at the Don Carlos Hotel in Marbella in 8th place, just a minute behind the 7th place vehicle, the last fuel stop having not been required and costing them at least one place.

The press reported that the race had been cancelled.

They returned the rental Mercedes with scratches, covered in mud, and also with a malfunctioning automatic transmission, having endured so many kick-downs.

Including the return trip, it had travelled 7,464 km exactly and the rental bill came to DM 6,417.45.

There were three more Cannonball Europe events, the last with 26 participants. Unfortunately the organisers pictures and documents were confiscated by the authorities and never returned, so the photos on the author's page are some of the only remaining.

Our author did not race again after the 1982 event, but did develop a love of the Mercedes W126 and went on to purchase one.

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Here are some translated newspaper articles:

Cannonball Rally: A Race into the Police Net

Kiel – From Denmark to Spain by car, and as fast as possible – that's the seemingly simple task of a "Cannonball Rally," as it's currently being conducted across Europe following the American model (we reported). The police, however, simply see it as a violation of traffic laws. On Sunday night, the racers were in Schleswig-Holstein, and for 30 of them, the journey ended there.

The daredevil drivers were driving their fast cars, around 50 percent of which were Porsches, otherwise BMWs, Mercedes, and "exotics" like Stingrays, Chevrolets, and Jaguars, into police checkpoints. As a police spokesperson in Kiel announced on Sunday, officers had been observing the rally participants for several days.

It didn't go well for the racers in their fast cars: Already in Denmark, they had 15,000 marks in "security deposits" confiscated from them during the few hours of nighttime transit by the police. At the border to Germany, the "rally" drivers were then "caught" by the German police's observation network. By the last checkpoint on Sunday morning, the field of participants had thinned out. A young man set the "speeding record" after being clocked by radar at 192 kilometers per hour on the Rader High Bridge over the Kiel Canal, where the speed limit is 80.

"Some got through safely," explained the police spokesperson - they were received by colleagues in Lower Saxony. Now it's unlikely that the "record" will be broken, which was set by the winner of last year's European "Cannonball Rally": According to police information, he traversed Europe with an average speed of 168 kilometers per hour.

Google Translate

"Hottest Race in the World" is Illegal and Takes Place on Public Roads

"Full Throttle Orgy" Through Europe
99 Insane Drivers at the Start

Uhldingen - Photographer Jupp Schlunke wants to make quick money with the "hottest race in the world." He advertises in sex magazines for the "full throttle orgy," an illegal car race on public roads, an import from the land of unlimited possibilities. The father of the deed is the American Yates, who, named after the legendary racer Ernest G. "Cannonball" Baker, invented it for wannabe racers. The "point" of the race is to evade police radar controls on public roads at top speeds, with possible disguise gimmicks. Sections of several thousand kilometers through multiple countries are to be covered. The racers' machines, disguised as ordinary vehicles, usually have hundreds of horsepower under the hood.

Alone, 11,980 people died on German roads in 1981. Many of them due to speeding. Jupp Schlunke wants to start the second illegal car race from the Danish border to southern Spain, through German roads, on March 26th. Until then, the judiciary still has time to investigate the fine speeders.

Only a week before the start, the participants receive the starting location from the race management in Unteruhldingen on Lake Constance. A small Danish municipality, about 50 kilometers from the German border, serves as the meeting point. 99 teams have registered with Lotus, Lamborghinis, Porsches, or even ambulances, hearse and police vehicles. The engines of the cars are "tuned" to the limit of what is technically possible. The vehicles have radio and radar warning devices. Last year, the drivers disguised themselves, for example, as pious priests with cassock, Bible and rosary. Others transported blood plasma or pig kidneys in refrigerated compartments. With such equipment, they bluffed "naive" police officers who wanted to take away their driver's licenses for speeding. Others tried to bribe the officers with bundles of money. Last year, Rolf Meyer, a businessman from Beverstedt, completed the 3400 kilometer route in 20 hours and one minute. The recreational racer claims to have endangered no one. He achieved an average speed of 170 kilometers per hour.

The fact that something could happen during this irresponsible speeding on public roads apparently exceeds the understanding of the Cannonball drivers. Organizer Schlunke: "These are all top drivers. They master their equipment perfectly. If something should go wrong, that's their beer." As organizers, we bear no responsibility. The people are driving voluntarily. And they know it's not a coffee trip." And for the Unteruhldingen graphic artist Jupp Schlunke, it's about the money: he charges 1768 marks per driver team. If you multiply the sum by the 99 participants, 175,032 DM minus the prize money and expenses flow into the pockets of the organizers. Prizes of 15,000, 7,000 and 3,000 DM are awarded. But here it's not about winnings, trophies, but about the thrill on public roads. According to Schlunke, the "full throttle orgy." According to ADAC press spokesman Jörg Wurm, they want to turn off the gas for the traffic rowdies before the start in cooperation with the state ministries. A leading police officer already sees a criminal offense in the advertising for "2. Cannonball Europa 82." But he must first convince the public prosecutor of this. In time.

Munich Mercury, Weekend Edition, 21/22 February 1982 (Google Translate)