The official route for the 2025 Cannonball Run charity supercar event has been announced, and the field of high-performance cars will be setting off from Johnstown Estate in Enfield, Co. Meath, before finishing in Naas, Co. Kildare. That might not sound very far, but there's a lot of Ireland between those two points…
Where else will the Cannonball visit?
After an evening event on Thursday 11 September for people to come and check out the field of exotic cars — more on those in a moment — on Friday 12 September, starting from Enfield, the Cannonball will head to Edenderry and continue towards Daingean and the Tullamore ringroad to Portlaoise before heading south to Cork.
On the way to Cork, there will be stops at Circle K Junction 14 of the M8, near Fermoy, from approximately 12.30pm, and at Ballymaloe House Hotel, just to the south east of Cork City, for lunch.
From there, Cannonballers will head to Killarney for the first overnight stop.
OK; where next?
From Killarney, on Saturday 13 September, the Cannonball will head first to Circle K Ballysimon, Co Limerick, at 11.30am for a fuel stop (those V12s and flat-sixes are thirsty…) before rolling on up towards Sligo, where the finish line for the day is set for 6pm.
The following morning, Sunday 14 September, the cars will head out from Rosses Point in Sligo, and head for Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan for lunch, where spectators can view the cars from 1pm to 2.30pm and then a fuel stop at Circle K Express Park Ri, Kells in Co Meath at approximately 3pm.
Finally, by 6pm, the Cannonball will arrive for the big finish in Naas town centre, in Co. Kildare, complete with live performances, street entertainers, celebrities, Brazilian dancers, a pre-Cannonball parade of cars and American fire trucks, children's entertainers, giant screens, The Garda Band, DJs, and more.
What's this all in aid of?
Obviously, there's the chance to view lots of rare and rapid supercars and sports cars, but the Cannonball Run is actually a major charity event, and the chosen charity this year is The Jack and Jill Children's Foundation - an Irish children's charity that funds and delivers in-home nursing care, respite support and end-of-life care for children from birth to six years of age with severe learning disability often associated with complex medical needs and is often described as a 'lifeline', giving exhausted parent carers a break from their 24/7 care regime. Jack and Jill's service operates seven days a week, with no means test, no red tape and no waiting list. This year in addition to all of the fundraising activities on Cannonball throughout the weekend including the exciting new Cannonball Fundraising Grand Prix, Circle K are running a nationwide campaign entitled, 'When you fill, support Jack and Jill' and 1 cent from every litre of miles and miles+ fuel sold at Circle K will be donated to the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation.
To date, the Cannonball Run has raised €2,024,809 for Irish charities.
OK, now tell us about the cars…
There will be some proper rare-groove stuff making the Cannonball Run this year, including a Koenigsegg Regera, a McLaren Senna with special McLaren Special Operations bespoke paintwork that mimics the McLaren West-sponsored F1 cars of the 1990s and 2000s, and a Ford GT Heritage Series with classic Gulf racing livery.