Yet another sad day in automotive history

We never should have let the Euros take over the Cannonball Run

Brabus Smart FourTwo wins latest Cannonball Run

Though the original Cannonball Run, organized in the early seventies by then Car and Driver editors Brock Yates and Steve Smith, is no longer officially run in the United States where it started, a version of the event still takes place in Europe. Amazingly, despite all of the high-power entrants into this year’s race, a smart fortwo managed to take the victory after traveling some 3,000 miles. The machine was already a few years old and had been modified with a revised engine map from BRABUS along with some basic suspension goodies. Other than that, the little two-seater was basically stock. According to its drivers, David Ward and Adrian Hull, from Essex in the U.K., they were able to zoom past many of the faster moving cars due to their relatively good fuel mileage. In fact, over the course of the trip, the duo managed to average around 35 miles per gallon.

Please, somebody, put this event out of its misery.