Bullrun: Essential Equipment

Aside from a fast, reliable car—we’ll forgive the Fusion’s modest top speed—there are three things which are absolutely essential for any team doing Bullrun—and I’m not talking about Red Bull, beef jerky and adrenaline. Item one? An external GPS, like a TomTom or a Garmin. As far as accuracy and ease of use go, nothing can touch either of these units. The second must-have? A radar detector. Valentines are the weapon of choice, because they’re super-accurate, and report whether the signal is coming from the front or the rear. The volume on these life-savers is always cranked, because their blaring might save the driver a trip to jail. (Escorts aren’t bad either–you can see below that’s what Mike is using.) The third item is a two-way radio, so you can communicate with the cars you’re running with. Aside from being able to relay early warnings, when you’re trying to overtake a "civilian" on a tight two-lane road, having buddies in front give an all clear beats the hell out of waiting for a passing zone. But all the reliance on technology also presents opportunities for more trickery. For instance, when I was riding in the Fusion on Monday, we used a radar gun to make the guys running in front of us slow down. Is it a dirty trick? Hell no—this is Bullrun, not a Promise Keepers meeting!