A long-time, masterful driver and car aficionado, Tim “Maverick” Porter has become known throughout Europe as one of the driving world’s most notorious bad boys and the man behind the revival of the renowned Cannonball events. After hosting seven successful rallies over the past five years in Europe, Porter is now bringing the infamous Cannonball Run Europe event back to its true homeland: the United States. What will become the largest car rally in North America, The Great American Run, will take place in July 2007.

Often referred to by the French as Carlos the Jackal due to his inability to ever get caught during his rallies, Porter is the pulse of the Cannonball events. His humour and passion are the underlying energy that makes the events come to life.

Porter began his driving career at the age of seven, driving his father’s Triumph 2.5 pi along a seven-mile stretch of beach in Ireland where he lived for ten years as a boy. From Ireland Porter then moved to Scotland with his family, where he attended a Scottish state school. At age 16 he began a mechanical apprenticeship at Mercedes, thus setting the stage for his life-long love affair with cars and driving. At 28 he started working for a main dealer. Porter began building engines and soon realized he had a natural talent for taking engine performance to the next level. In order to build upon his skills he started his own business importing high performance Japanese cars.

While running his import business during the day, Porter spent his nights racing in Europe with French car enthusiasts. Porter was a three-time street-racing champion, and after retiring on top he began to contemplate bringing back the Cannonball rallies on the roads of Europe. Initially Porter had hoped to take 25 cars on the first Cannonball, and was overwhelmed yet ecstatic when some 67 cars participated in his first event that covered approximately 3,000 miles in four days.

This inaugural rally earned Porter his ongoing reputation as one of the most evasive, unstoppable drivers to date. Out-maneuvering road blocks in France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Porter was never stopped and did not even get caught for speeding. Hence, the French nickname Carlos the Jackal.

Five years and seven major events later, Porter has franchised his rallies in the UK and Europe, and has re-introduced the ultimate Cannonball to America with The Great American Run. After spending the last two years driving throughout the U.S. to map out the routes and plan several hidden surprises for the world’s most hardcore driving enthusiasts, the multi-start event took place in July 2007. As always, Porter participated in the rally, challenging other drivers in one of his self-enhanced 500bhp promo cars and handed the keys to a brand new Saleen Mustang, built exclusively for the event, to the winning team at the 2007 Final Night Party. Read more about the 2007 event and the winning team.

2008 sees porter designing and building the worlds fastest street legal 1000bhp mustang the Ultimate bad boy with a flat out 220mph top speed and available in three different models the first being a twin turbo version at 500bhp a 700 bhp and then the flagship 1000bhp model porter has made the car affordable with prices starting at $68,000 dollars for the 180 mph version the first Ultimate bad boy rolled off the production line in june  08 and porter drove it straight from Indianapolis to California to start getting ready for the may 2009 event .