A Smart ForTwo gave its high-powered opposition plenty of ‘fuel for thought’ when it sprinted to victory in the Cannonball Run, a 3,000-mile dash across Europe. The five-year-old, second-hand smart fortwo BRABUS, which was the smallest car in the 40-vehicle field beat a long list of six-figure supercars. The event, which was flagged off in UK, then crossed to France, Portugal and Spain with the finishing line back in UK.
It was the Smart’s impressive fuel economy that really provided the edge. The performance version of the iconic smart range, which features a 700cc, 74bhp, three-cylinder turbo engine, is capable of 53.3 miles per gallon when driven on the combined fuel cycle – a factor that enabled the car to spend less time at the petrol pumps than its thirstier rivals.
“The downfall of the bigger cars was that they were forced to stop so often, so while they kept overtaking us, we eventually went past them at the next petrol station when they needed to fill up again!”
What made the victory even more remarkable was the fact that their Smart has all of its original specification apart from a re-mapping kit and upgraded suspension. Competing in their first event of this kind, they were also the only entrants without an in-car satellite navigation system – preferring a traditional European road guide instead.
