Oran Sands is fascinated with going in circles.
The Carmel resident made it his recent mission to establish a record for the most roundabouts driven through in one day.
Sands, 66, drove through all of Carmel’s 112 unique roundabouts Nov. 4. The drive took two hours and 39 minutes in a 1989 Volkswagen Cabriolet. He started and finished his mission at the Monon Community Center.
“About 10 of those I went through at least twice and some three times to get to the other ones,” Sands said.
Sands was joined by Fishers resident Rob Bohn, professional rally co-driver, who helped him navigate the route, which was prepared by a computer for the fastest path. Sands is a former rally co-driver. Another friend, Keith Griffiths of Indianapolis, kept track of the roundabouts with a written record. Sands and Griffin ride bicycles together.
“(Griffin) is a big fan of roundabouts, coming from England,” Sands said.
Sands plans to send the video of his roundabout trips to “Guinness World Records” and RecordSetter.com.
Sands spent three-plus hours driving through the same dog bone roundabout at 106th Street and Keystone Parkway Oct. 13, 2015, in an older Volkswagen Cabriolet.
He sent that video to RecordSetter.com to lay claim to that record.
“Guinness, at that time, would not accept videos as claims of records,” said Sands, a software programmer. “They do now.”
For now, Sands said he has no plans to seek any other roundabout records unless something occurs to him.
Sands said both records had their appeal.
“The first one was one of those things you look at and say that’s absolutely looney, and it was, but it was fun,” Sands said.
The second one took more planning.
“It was an excellent tribute to using roundabouts,” Sands said. “We went 73 miles and averaged 27 miles per hour. In town, that would take forever. Since we were going through roundabouts constantly, we almost never had to slow down and stop. In fact, I don’t think we hit more than three stoplights or stop signs. Say what you want about roundabouts, they really help the flow of traffic.”
