1946
The highly anticipated inaugural Portunis Cannonball Run of 1946 started a little subdued. The hopeful teams arrived in Somunds for scrutineering a few days before the race was due to start. Crowds were slowly gathering in the hopes of glancing the race cars and get autographs from the drivers. Otherwise festivities were not due to start until the teams were officially announces.
Six manufacturers submitted their bid to enter their cars in the race: Mons, Minerva, Aero, Vizzuri, Ainsworth, and Daniloski.
From left to right: Mons, Minerva, Aero, Vizzuri, Ainsworth, Daniloski.
First up: scrutineering to make sure that the cars are legal. Unfortunately, one of the entries was found to be in breach of regulations: the Daniloski was too expensive. Not just a little either, but a whopping $2300 over budget. This meant that the smiling blue car was not allowed to partake in the race. This left the field with five manufacturers - 15 cars at the starting line.
Before the race the organizers published car specifications, which led to widespread speculation (and betting) among the spectators. Which car will win? Powered by a large 4.7L 204 HP V8, the Vizzuri shows amazing straight line speed, but falters in cornering. It will certainly struggle in the more twisty second stage. Despite this shortcoming, its speed is just overwhelming in a straight line, and is anticipated to be able to overcome its handling issues.
The Mons and Minerva are roughly even on overall pace, but in different areas. Powered by a large 5.7L 210 HP V8, the Minerva edges out the Mons (2.4L 112 HP B4) in straight-line speed, but it too struggles to get around bends. The Mons beats both the Minerva and Vizzuri in the more twisty areas, but falls a little behind due to its lower top speed. Reliability of these three cars is roughly on par with each other - not stellar, but acceptable for the time period.
The Ainsworth is a little slower in a straight line than the previous cars with its 2.1L 116 HP I6, and also falls behind a little in the twisties. Overall, though, it is not far behind the Mons and Minerva in raw pace. The real Achilles heel of the Ainsworth is its miserable reliability. It will be lucky to finish the race!
Last, but not least is the cute little Aero. It’s small, and it’s not fast. But, with its 30 HP engine it barely reaches 100 km/h, so what did we expect? At least it is quite reliable, and very very affordable. Perhaps this car is actually within reach of most Letarans - so perhaps this is the ideal sports car for the masses?
Break-downs, malfuntions, and headaches:
Stage one saw immediate drama with two of the Ainsworth teams suffering terminal failures - and so the race lost the Ainsworth Factory Team and the Ainsworth Rally Team. Also in the first stage the Mons Titans team lost some time due to a minor technical problem, but managed to continue.
Stage two saw one more DNF: Vizzuri’s Highway Outlaws broke down and could not resume the race. Other than this, the Mons Titans overcame another minor techical issue, and Aero’s Official Aero Company Racing Team (Car 2) and Vizzuri’s V8 Magnifique suffered major issues losing them a lot of time.
Stage three was a rather mundane affair; only the Mons Paragons had a moderately severe malfunction, which set them back quite a bit, but managed to continue.
Race results:
Group shot of the winners of the inaugural Portunis Cannonball Run taken on the porch of Portunis’ most famous winery overlooking the ocean.
Surprisingly, 12 out of the 15 teams made it to the finish line! This is a remarkable success for the inaugural race. The organizers were delighted with the fan turnout too - people lined the roads all along the race’s route. With the economy seemingly in an uptick, many more successful years of racing are predicted. Now, let that Fronaco Secco flow!
1947
In its second year, the Portunis Cannonball Run didn’t see any new entries, so racing continued with the same five teams from 1946. The diverse podium of the previous year has shown that outright pace is not everything: to win, you have to finish first (and finish without any major mishaps along the way). Despite the persistent heat and dry conditions, the fans were out in full force again and crowded the side of the race route from starting line to the finish line. The teams were also in good spirits and set off for the race in high hopes of more great results…
Break-downs, malfuntions, and headaches:
1947 could not have started any more different from 1946… Right in the first stage four teams suffered terminal malfunctions and had to abandon the race: Mons Maruders, Vizzuri V8 Magnifique, Ainsworth Factory Team, and Ainsworth Racing Team. It looks like that Ainsworth’s miserable reliability is really taking a toll on them this time around.
The Ainsworth misery continued in stage two, where they lost their final team, the Rally Team, to a terminal failure. Not to be outdone, Minerva’s The Hope of Altherys and Mons’ Titans were also lost in this stage. Thus, by the end of stage two, the 1947 edition of the Cannonball Run was already down seven cars! Perhaps the successes gained last year were the fluke, or was it back luck this year? The speculation started among the teams and the crowds… Oh, and almost unnoticed was that Minerva’s The Spirit of Crugandr team also suffered a minor issue, but they only lost minimal time and this event was overshadowed by all the retirements.
In the last stage, one more car would succumb to the stress of racing: Vizzuri’s Highway Outlaws never made the finish line. The other unlucky team was Mons’ Paragons, who suffered a major break-down losing them much time, but at least they could get going again and make the finish.
Race results:
With only a tiny field of 7 cars making it to the finish line, this was truly a race of attrition. The only manufacturer in the two years of racing who had all of their teams finish the race is Aero - so although they are not necessarily fast, we must congratulate them on this achievement! Letarans are starting to talk about hares and turtles…
1948
Four new manufacturers submitted their bids to join the Portunis Cannonball Run: Liberty, Mocabey, Capable, and Mitsushita.
From left to right: Liberty, Mocabey, Capable, and Matsushita.
As always the new teams had to undergo scrutineering by the judges. Liberty and Mocabey were found to be in compliance with all rules and regulations, but unfortunately Capable and Matsushita had to be excluded from the race. The reasons on the official scrutineering forms read: “The company Capable is found to be in violation of the Traffic Act of Letara. The offence involves the mounting of experimental and potentially dangerous tires to their vehicle. Upon close inspection, these tires are found to be impossibly wide for their height, thus potentially causing dangerous blow-outs.” and “The company Matsushita is found to be in violation of the financial regulations of the Portunis Cannonball Run”. Thus, only Liberty and Macabey joined the starting grid, bringing the total field up to 21 cars.
Luckily, the volcanic eruption at the end of last year didn’t affect the race route, and people were still keen to see fast race cars - especially with new teams joining the race! Perhaps this year will see a new car on the podium? So crowds still gathered along the race route to cheer on their favourite teams.
Of the two new teams on the grid, Mocabey became an instant favourite and many bets were placed on their three teams. On paper, the 3.6L 165 HP I6 made the Mocabey a rocket on wheels. It proved not only fast in a straight line, but also around corners, this combination not seen thus far from any other race car. The car lacked a little reliability, but nowhere near the Ainsworth.
The Liberty proved to be a decent car, performance wise roughly on par with the Mons and the Minerva - but having more of the Mons characteristics. Despite its 4L 176 HP V8, due to its bulk it lacked some top speed - but despite its bulk it handled quite nicely around corners. It showed Letarans that big cars can handle well… Reliability for the Liberty was not stellar however, which left the betting folk a little apprehensive to put money on a Liberty win.
Break-downs, malfuntions, and headaches:
1948 turned out to be an even bigger race of attrition than 1947! In summary…
Stage 1, terminal failures for: Minerva’s The Pride of Valraad, all three Ainsworth teams (!), and Mocabey 2. Minor and moderate break-downs for Official Aero Company Racing Team (Car 1) and Official Aero Company Racing Team (Car 2).
Stage 2, terminal failures for: Minerva’s The Hope of Altherys, Liberty Racing Team, and Mocabey 3. One moderate break down for Liberty’s Free Birds.
Stage 3, terminal failures for: Mons Marauders, Vizzuri V8 Magnifique, Libery’s Team Philly, and Mocabey 1. One major break-down for Vizzuri’s Highway Outlaws.
Race results:
In terms of number of finishers, this was thus far the roughest year. Only 9 out of the 21 teams finished the race. Congrats to those who (by chance or skill) have made it to the finish line!
This turn of events gave some Letarans pause. Was the first year the fluke, the outliner? Did the teams just get lucky then? Is this the true face of reliability in the field? Have manufacturers pushed the cars too far and they are just not reliable? Do these reliability woes translate to consumer cars? And how did Aero manage to get all their teams to the finish line every year so far?
Such thoughts started circulating in people’s minds as their eyes and ears turned to the question of reliability as a major talking point…
I believe an update screwed up my pricing. I’m pretty sure it was $20,900 when I submitted or at least when I exported the car which was quite a few updates back. Oh well. Should’ve checked again later within the submission period right? Hopefully my car can still run in 1949 when the budget will go up by $500.