Fifty-plus supercars idling in the magnificent grounds of a country estate in Kent makes a noise you feel and hear, and it is a noise we came to know very well indeed over the following week. The Cannon Run’s Mega Run 26 rolled out of London on 13 June 2026 and pointed itself at the Croatian coast by way of the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
The organisation has spent years building annual road trips that pair some of the best super cars in the world with five-star hotels, and the 2026 edition ran on a brand-new route. Headed by Jay Cannon, the company plans everything in advance so that the driving is the point, rather than tedious route planning. Every kind of car is welcome, from the lowest-slung Ferrari to the tallest off-roader (but just make sure your can keep up), and the route is planned so that all of them can actually get where they are going.
The Executive Magazine joined in with the adventure as the official media partner, sharing the experience with Laurence Brannigan from luxury watchmaker Jacob & Co. Our vehicle of choice was a Lister edition Jaguar F-Pace, tuned to over 700bhp with close to 1,000 ft lbs of torque, which is a genuinely absurd amount of shove for something with rear seats and a boot. Laurence and I split the driving in equal measures across stages that can run into several hours. Working as a team made the trip much more manageable.
A send-off in the Kent countryside
The week opened at the award-winning Chilston Park Hotel, a country house sitting in Kent farmland with 53 individually designed rooms, manicured gardens and a gourmet restaurant. Supercars filled the grounds around the manor house while guests worked through cocktails and canapés, and the introductions began. Live music, performances and a fireworks display over the estate finished the evening with the amount of ceremony the occasion deserved.
Dinner and drinks gave everyone a first chance to attach names to cars, which turned out to be the currency of the entire week. Morning came early and unsympathetically. Fifty plus engines fired up, the convoy rolled towards the Channel Tunnel, and attracted a huge amount of attention from locals, car spotters, kids and media. The sights and sounds of dozens of supercars way largely met with enthusiasm and cheers, with no incidents.
Seven hundred horsepower with practicality
Sharing a car for eight days is a test of engineering and comfort alike, and the Lister passed both. The supercharged V8 pulls hard in any gear, often surprising us and our convoy, especially given the car’s size and presence on the road. The tuned exhaust has a loud, growling deep rasp that certainly turns heads. Lift off, drop a gear, time it right, and it pops and bangs like a small artillery unit. Nailing that perfectly is one of life’s simple pleasures and became a full-blown obsession between the pair of us within just a few miles.
There is a practical argument here too, and on a trip this long it matters. Luggage, camera kit and supplies all went in the back without issue, definitely an advantage over the 2 seater super cars. The seats were comfortable for hours at a time, and along with all the creature comforts one would expect from a luxurious ride, the miles flew by. A surprising discovery was the difference European 100 octane fuel makes. It seems we unlocked a new performance level, with the Lister seeming to adapt it’s mapping to accommodate for this rich fuel. The acceleration as snappier, and even more responsive through every gear.
Rooftop views over Amsterdam
Out of the tunnel, into France and north to Amsterdam for the first proper driving day. The Okura Hotel took care of the sleeping arrangements, and the evening belonged to LuminAir, the rooftop bar taken over privately for the group. The views across the city are the reason to be there, and sunset over the rooftops did the rest of the work unaided.
First nights set the tone, and the tone here was cheerfully loose. Talk moved between cars, routes, tyre wear and the various businesses around the room, in roughly that order of importance. By the time we got back to the hotel, fifty separate parties had started bonding.
German autobahns and a legendary circuit
Day two took the convoy into Germany and to the Nürburgring, a regroup point that needs no explaining to anyone with an interest in cars. Nobody went out on track, and the reasoning was sound rather than cowardly. The circuit’s reputation for eating expensive cars, the total absence of insurance cover once you pass through the barrier and the small matter of another thousand miles still to cover made the decision fairly simple. Maybe next time.
The autobahn made up for it. Given a clear stretch and dry tarmac, the Lister sat comfortably with some of the most exotic supercars on the trip, which nobody had expected, least of all us. We backed off at 240kph, partly out of respect for the remaining distance and partly because physics reminds you these speeds are no joke. Terrifying and exhilarating in more or less equal measure is the honest verdict.
Among the cars gathered that day, one stood out even in company like this: a Porsche GT3 RS Weissach edition, modified further, with an aftermarket exhaust that does not rumble so much as scream. The night was spent at the Sofitel Frankfurt, a clean, modern hotel with everything you would want from a five-star property and an excellent city centre location. The evening was given over to traditional German beer, which went as well as you would imagine.
Alpine respite at Kitzbühel
Heading south from Frankfurt, the group stopped at Motorworld Munich for lunch surrounded by some of the rarest cars in private hands, followed by a private tour of the site. It is a well-judged addition to the itinerary, offering an hour out of the driving seat without killing the momentum of the day. From there the road climbed into the Austrian Alps and the state of Tyrol.
Schlosshotel Kitzbühel graciously hosted the group for two nights, and by that stage we all needed a bit of respite. The Momentum Spa is the hotel’s main event, with indoor and outdoor pools, panoramic saunas, steam rooms and quiet relaxation areas, plus a treatment list of massages and restorative therapies. A full day with no distance to cover left time to truly relax, enjoy the facilities, and head into the town and a bit of shopping.
The first evening ran to a three-course dinner at the hotel before a visit to the local casino and a wine bar with a live DJ. The second brought the gala dinner in the Castle Ballroom, three courses, a Great Gatsby dress theme and a Ferrari 488 parked in the middle of the room. Eating dinner next to a supercar indoors is not a normal Tuesday, and it produced one of the best evenings of the trip.
The Grossglockner and the run to Villach
Day five delivered the drive everybody had been talking about since the starting line. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road climbs through the Austrian Alps in a long sequence of switchbacks and sweeping bends, and the surface is immaculate the whole way up. The toll costs a small fortune. It is worth every cent even before you have reached the first hairpin.
Lunch at the summit came with 360-degree alpine views, and the run back down was every bit as good as the climb. A trio of Lamborghini Aventadors travelled with us that day, including a matt black SV wearing an Fi exhaust that bounced off the valley walls long after the car itself had vanished round the next bend. Nobody within ten miles was left in any doubt about what had just gone past.
The day ended in Villach, a lakeside town in southern Austria, where another well organised dinner was waiting. Austrian steak took centre stage, the entertainment carried on in the style the week had already established, and sleep arrived without any encouragement whatsoever.
A Croatian welcome on the coast road
Leaving Austria, the route ran through Slovenia and a mountain lunch stop before crossing into Croatia. Two Lamborghini STOs joined the convoy at the border, wild in styling and stripped out inside to something close to full race car specification. Fresh arrivals partway through a trip are always a welcome addition.
Shortly afterwards we were pulled over by the police, with the green STO leading the pack, which was possibly not a coincidence. The stop turned out to be a formality, a document check, and the officers could not have been more relaxed about it. Reports had come in of speeding Lamborghinis, apparently. We assured them the culprits must have been someone else entirely.
The coast road carried us down to Zadar and the Hyatt Regency, which was a personal favourite of the week. The hotel is new, the rooms are properly spacious and the decor is handled with a light touch. The evening was spent at the yacht club on the marina, a private event with a live DJ, very good food and a view over the water with the supercars parked up alongside the yachts. The spectacle drew crowds of people to admire the cars and some even joined in with the fun.
A final night on the Adriatic
The last driving day followed the Adriatic coastline south, a two-and-a-half-hour run into Split that felt positively civilised after the alpine passes. The Radisson Blu Lav Split is closer to a beach resort than a conventional hotel, sitting right on the water with grounds worth wandering around properly. Finishing at a resort rather than a city hotel was a smart piece of planning.
The beach club was the highlight, with a VIP area reserved for the group and the sort of long, slow afternoon in the sun that a week of early starts thoroughly earns. Everyone gathered one final time that evening for dinner and the annual Cannon Run Awards. Saying goodbye the following morning took a great deal longer than the schedule allowed for.
The company we kept
The networking side of the week became obvious almost immediately, and it is a genuine part of the appeal rather than a bolt-on. The group spanned a wide range of ages, backgrounds and sectors, held together by a shared enthusiasm for driving and, in most cases, by active business interests. Conversations that started with exhaust notes and tyre choices had a habit of turning into something considerably more useful by day four.
Several of the people we drove alongside now sit firmly in the friends column, and a few of the connections made may well turn commercial in time. The group WhatsApp thread has barely drawn breath since everyone got home, which tells you plenty. Camaraderie and a fairly relentless supply of banter did as much for the week as any of the hotels.
Organisation behind the miles
Running a trip on this scale takes a level of planning most participants never see, and the difference shows. The entire route had been driven, checked and refined on a reconnaissance trip months beforehand, with attention paid to road suitability, parking capacity, access at every stop and the standard of the facilities waiting at the other end. Driving times between checkpoints were kept to a sensible length, which means you actually get to use the hotels rather than arriving at midnight and leaving at six.
Support on the road was equally comprehensive. A luggage truck, a mechanic’s support vehicle and a truck-trailer set off early each morning so that help was never far behind the convoy. The staff were helpful, reliable and permanently good-humoured, and the promise of leaving nobody behind was taken entirely literally and seriously.
The measure of the week
Eight days, eight countries and a route linking some of the finest driving roads in Europe added up to a week that will take some beating. The cars were extraordinary, the hotels were well chosen, and the roads had clearly been picked by someone who drives for pleasure rather than someone with a map and a calculator.
What sticks, though, is the company. Fifty-plus cars left the rural estate in Kent as a collection of strangers and arrived on the Croatian coast as something closer to a travelling club with an alarming fuel bill. The next one cannot come round soon enough.