The coronavirus lockdown has created the perfect conditions for people interested in breaking the Cannonball record.

With roads across the United States quieter than ever before, many jumped at the opportunity of driving coast-to-coast in a fast car hoping to set a new Cannonball record. Fred Ashmore, a veteran of previous C2C Express runs, is one of those people and his goal was to beat the existing solo Cannonball record.

That means driving alone, for more than 24 hours straight, starting from New York City and finishing in Los Angeles. Not only did the guy set a new record of 25 hours and 55 minutes, but he also did it while driving a rental 2019 Ford Mustang GT. This definitely gives credence to the saying that the fastest car is always a rental.

Read Also: Someone Allegedly Set A New Cannonball Record Of Under 26 Hours; Any Idea Who It Might Be?

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Joking aside, Ashmore’s feat is remarkable for several reasons. For starters, he ditched the Mustang’s front passenger seat, rear seats, and spare tire and replaced them with three fuel tanks able to hold a total of 130 gallons of gasoline – or about 492 liters. This was key to his success as it meant reducing the number of fuel stops to only one halfway through the run in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Choosing the time of departure was also important, and Fred decided to leave NYC at 6 a.m. on a weekday. That’s because, as the coronavirus restrictions eased off, he noticed people started driving more on the weekends. The decision paid off as there was very little traffic at that time and he managed to leave the city behind in no time.

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What also helped was that he encountered no police laser speed guns during the entire 2,800-mile (4,600-km) trip – which was good for him because the cruise control was set at the maximum speed allowed in the Mustang GT, 120 mph (193 km/h). He managed to get pretty close to that, as his average speed during the entire run was 108 mph (174 km/h).

Obviously, one can’t plan for everything when attempting to break the Cannonball record so the best man to tell you how it all went down is Fred Ashmore himself, courtesy of the following VINwiki video.

PS: The record-setting Ford Mustang GT rental is on sale for $32,000, by the way.