Gumball 3000

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The Gumball 3000 is an annual 3000 mile (5000 km) international rally which takes place on public roads, which travels around the world. Although set up as a rally with no official timing, or prizes for reaching check points first, during the rally, some participants have been fined for speeding and other traffic offences by the police in countries they passed through,^[1] cars have been confiscated^[2] and the 2007 rally was cancelled after a car participating in the rally was involved in a fatal collision with a non-participating vehicle.^[3] Although the organizers are careful to emphasize that it is a rally and not a race,^[4] it is sometimes referred to as a race on public roads.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Contents 1 Founder of Gumball 3000 2 History 3 Rally 3.1 1999 3.2 2000 3.3 2001 3.4 2002 3.5 2003 3.6 2004 3.7 2005 3.8 2006 3.9 2007 3.10 2008 4 Winners 4.1 Official Spirit of the Gumball Trophy Winners 5 Commercial Items 5.1 DVDs/VHS 5.2 CDs 5.3 Clothing 5.4 Games 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Founder of Gumball 3000

Gumball 3000 was founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper. Cooper invited 50 of his wealthiest friends to take part in a 6 day 3000 mile drive around Europe, partying every night. The event started off with a wild party with some of Londons A-list including Kate Moss, Guy Ritchie, Billy Zane, Chris Eubank, Dannii Minogue.

[edit] History

In 1933, motorcycle racer "Cannonball" Baker crossed the United States from coast-to-coast in approximately 54 hours. In the 1970s, Car and Driver founder and editor Brock Yates started the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in his honor. The second race was won by Yates and Dan Gurney, a former Formula One and Le Mans driver, driving a Ferrari Daytona. They needed about 36 hours to transit from New York to L.A. These events inspired the 1976 movies The Gumball Rally and Cannonball, as well as sequels including Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II, etc. The "Cannonball" race eventually was canceled in 1979 due to a combination of media attention and pressure from political influences and police organisations who were concerned about road safety.

Drawing inspiration from the 1970s race, the aforementioned movies, as well as the movies Smokey and the Bandit and Vanishing Point , Maximillion Cooper revived the spirit of the old races in the summer of 1999 by combining the driving element with nightly parties and layovers at luxury hotels. The "Gumball 3000" has since captured public attention through celebrity participation and widespread coverage including CNN, MTV, the BBC, Esquire magazine, FHM magazine, and George Gurley from Vanity Fair, who rode with 2003 "Spirit of the Gumball Trophy" winner Alexander Roy through Morocco during the 2004 Rally.

[edit] Rally

[edit] 1999

The original rally featured 50 of Cooper's friends, and travelled from London, to Rimini, Italy and back, passing through Paris, with a stop at the Chateau d'Esclimont. Lapping the Le Mans race circuit, a checkpoint followed at the Mas du Clos Ferrari Museum, before moving on to Monaco Grand Prix circuit in Monaco, the Ferrari Factory in Maranello, the Ambras Palace in Austria and the Hockenheim Grand Prix Circuit in Germany before returning to London to cross the finish line on Park Lane. The winner drove a 1963 Jaguar E-Type. Other drivers included actors Billy Zane in a 1965 Aston Martin DB5, Jason Priestley in a Lotus Esprit V8 and Dannii Minogue in a Porsche Boxster.

[edit] 2000

The second rally was held in May 2000. Beginning at Marble Arch in London and continuing to Stansted Airport, where all cars and people were airlifted to a private airport in Spain. The rally then progressed through Bilbao, Cannes, Milan, Hotel Bühlerhöhe Castle near Baden-Baden (Germany), the Nürburgring GP circuit and Hamburg before returning to London. Notable entrants included drum and bass legend and James Bond villain Goldie in an Aston Martin V8, It girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in a Jaguar XK8, Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds in a Bentley, the indie band Placebo in a Lagonda, the Happy Mondays all crammed into a 2+2 Jaguar, and Maximillion Cooper in the famous Bentley Arnage 1WO.

[edit] 2001

The third rally, held in April 2001, featured 106 cars, including Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and Chris Pontius, the hosts of Jackass, driving a 1989 Jaguar XJ6; F1 World champion Damon Hill driving a Lamborghini; comedian Vic Reeves in an Mercedes-AMG; Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in a Blower Bentley and Maximillion in an original Shelby Cobra. The rally progressed from Hyde Park Corner in London to Berlin, Malbork, Vilnius, Saint Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen before returning to London. Kim Schmitz finished first in his Mercedes Brabus SV12 Megacar. Select portions were broadcast as an hour-long Jackass Gumball 3000 Special on MTV and received the highest viewer ratings of the year.^{[citation needed]} Ruby Wax also broadcast coverage of the event for terrestrial TV in the UK on BBC1, and wrestled with Chris Pontius.

[edit] 2002

The fourth rally was held in April 2002, the first to be held outside of Europe. Beginning in New York and finishing at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, the rally passed through a checkpoint at the White House in Washington DC before stopping in Memphis, Tennessee for lunch in Elvis Presley's Mansion, Graceland. After receiving a Dallas Cowboys welcome in Texas, stops were made at the Cadillac Ranch; Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Grand Canyon; and Las Vegas, Nevada before the final stop at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills where Hugh Hefner and playmates awarded trophies. Entering the contest were 175 cars, including a 1960s Corvette painted in the Stars and Stripes that received an award for best car, the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder similar to one used in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off that was bought at a cost of over $1m just to take part in the Gumball, as well as American muscle cars and modern day supercars. Fashion designer Donna Karan, models Amy Wesson and Rachel Hunter, and actor Matthew McConaughey were among the participants.

[edit] 2003

The fifth rally was held in May 2003, with more than 100 cars beginning in San Francisco, California with a finish line in Miami, Florida. The rally passed through Reno, Nevada; Las Vegas, Nevada; Tucson, Arizona; White Sands, New Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; Houston, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana. Featured entrants included Jackass' Ryan Dunn racing a rental car alongside skateboard legends Tony Hawk and Bam Margera in a Dodge Viper, Bucky Lasek, Motocross World champions Travis Pastrana and Carey Hart, and supermodel Jodie Kidd. Cars included a mix of Ferrari F50s and 360s, Lamborghini Murcielagos, a Koenigsegg CC supercar and Jesse James' customized VW Eurovan. Alex Roy won the Gumball Spirit Trophy in his Team Polizei BMW M5, outfitted with German Police equipment. Top Gear reported that the Koenigsegg CCR holds the fastest speeding ticket in the United States, which allegedly occurred in May 2003 in Texas. It was supposedly 242 mph (389 km/h) in a 75-mph zone. The "Fastest Wheels" award was presented to Rob "Lonman" Kenworthy in a Porsche GT2, with the "Special Award" presented to Richard and Sue Rawlings, owners of a heavily modified Chevy Avalanche.

[edit] 2004

The sixth rally was held in May 2004 in Europe, fielding 192 cars. The rally began at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and transitioned to Biarritz, Madrid, and Marbella before crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Africa. In Marrakech, Morocco, entrants were guests of the King before returning to Spain for the Barcelona Grand Prix and finishing at Cannes for the film festival. Former boxing world champion Chris Eubank drove a truck, while The Pianist Academy Award winning actor Adrien Brody favoured a Porsche, the 'Ai Ya' Boys rented a Winnebago RV, and Rob Dyrdek and Big Black drove the rally in a rental car. Gary Lutke and John Docherty won the coveted Spirit Trophy in a Citroën 2CV, and the Style Award was presented to Alex Roy's Team Polizei 144, dressed as Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Safety Award was presented to Torquenstein for surviving a near fatal Dodge Viper crash in Morocco. An all woman team piloted by Allison Cornia (MTrouble) and Cassandra Dungan (Porsche 911 Turbo X50) were awarded the Technomarine Timekeeper's Award. Former Champion jockey Richard Dunwoody and journalist Clement Wilson entered in a Volvo V70R and wrote an account entitled "Our Gumball Rally" published by Virgin Books, and the rally is documented on the Gumball 3000 DVD.

[edit] 2005

The seventh rally originated at Trafalgar Square on May 14, 2005, and progressed 3000 miles from London to Brussels, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and onto to Dubrovnik in Croatia. The cars then were transported by ferry to Bari, Italy, followed by a transit of the Targa Florio circuit in Sicily, before heading north to Rome and Florence. The finish line was in Monaco's Casino Square prior to the F1 Grand Prix. Participants included Daryl Hannah, rock stars and supermodels driving vehicles ranging from the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee to Ferrari Enzos and Mercedes-Benz SLRs.

The Spirit Trophy was awarded to Sue Bellarby and Kathy Huddart, whose Caterham 7 broke down just shy of the finish line. The two were transported to the finish line by Gumball legend Alex Roy in his "Guardia Civil" Team Polizei BMW M5 who finished 2nd dressed as a Spanish cop. The year's unofficial winners were Greg and "Kalbas" in a 2004 Mercedes CLK-DTM, who edged out a week-old Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren because a tire was destroyed just short of the finish line.

[edit] 2006

The 2006 rally was the most ambitious of any Gumball 3000 rally, starting in London and finishing in Los Angeles just 8 days later. The organizers flew all 120 cars from Europe to Asia and on to the USA in 3 Antonov An-124's and an Icelandair passenger Boeing 757. The rally began on April 29, 2006 in Pall Mall, London, and continued on to Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. The drivers then boarded a plane in Serbia and landed in Thailand for the rally's second leg between Phuket and Bangkok. The final leg occurred in the United States between Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, via Las Vegas, where Snoop Dogg performed live at the Gumball party.

Entrants included Jackass stars Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera, driving Margera's 'Billy Idol' customized Lamborghini Gallardo; Tony Hawk, Mike Vallely, and Rooftop Escamilla in a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8; blink 182's Travis Barker drove his Rolls Royce Phantom with Swizz Beatz; Dirty Sanchez used a Japan-Tuning style Nissan S15 Silvia; Dan Joyce, Matthew Pritchard, and Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon drove a pink Range Rover; and American television host Matt Johnston drove his custom 2006 Dodge Charger, among Gumball's regular assortment of eccentrics, celebrities, millionaires and billionaires from all over the world.

Team Polizei's Alex Roy & Michael Ross dominated Gumball 2006, arriving first in Belgium, Vienna, Budapest, Furnace Creek and Beverly Hills, even beating Gumballers that skipped the intermediate checkpoints^{[citation needed]}. Team Polizei, suffering from both Ed Leigh's sabotage and accident damage in Thailand, did not participate in the Thailand leg and made a surprise visit to the Burmese border, where pictures were taken with border guards who thought Team Polizei were UN inspectors.^{[citation needed]}

Torquenstein returned despite his serious accident in the 2004, driving a rally ready Ford GT. Modifications included a smoke screen and three GPS units^{[citation needed]}. Torquenstein and navigator Dr Gruene arrived second in Belgrade, eighth in Thailand and arrived simultaneously on the final stage with the Team Polizei Bentley driven by Alex Roy and Michael Ross.^{[citation needed]}

The Spirit Trophy was won by Damian Williams, Richard Blackburn & Ezra Chapman of Team 15, who crashed a camouflage Rolls Royce Phantom at approximately 160mph just north of Belgrade. The team allegedly rode 500+ miles in a cab across Thailand, then received a brand new Rolls Royce Phantom in Salt Lake City and drove to the Beverly Hills finish line. Upon arriving at the Playboy Mansion with the twisted grille from the first Phantom, Hugh Hefner presented the duo with a fitting trophy, a Gumball machine.

[edit] 2007

The 2007 route was scheduled to travel from London to Istanbul, via Amsterdam, Munich, Tirana, Dubrovnik, and Athens. Over 100 contestants were scheduled to drive through 16 countries in 8 days. The entrance fee for the 2007 rally was GB£28,000 (US$55,060) for first-time drivers.^[10]

Upon arrival on April 29 in Holland, the Dutch police met the participants with 14 police cars and 7 unmarked cars. Seven drivers including rapper Xzibit lost their driver's licenses for speeding 50 km/h over the legal limit and two cars were confiscated. The Dutch government has forbidden streetraces by law, although rallies that are performed within the law (i.e. participating in a rally without a competitive element) are not forbidden.^[11][2] The next day, the German police stopped about 70 cars for speeding violations; they were escorted off to the airport. A police spokesman told the media that the information about the route had been available on the official Gumball 3000 website.^[12] After Germany, the rally was due to continue from Istanbul. The participants were flown to Istanbul, but the Antonov planes carrying their vehicles were diverted to Athens.^[13] The drivers were flown on to Athens, though four teams (Team Polizei, Team Turkish Taxi, Team Aytac, and Team 15) chose to drive the distance in other vehicles.^[14]

On May 2, a traffic accident occurred near the town of Struga, Republic of Macedonia. The Techart Porsche 911 Turbo of Nick Morley and Matthew McConville hit an oncoming Volkswagen Golf (Some reports contend a speed of 200 km/h or more, while others doubt such a speed would be practical given the poor road condition).^[15] According to media reports, they travelled to a nearby border post in a BMW M6 with Russian car number plates, where they were arrested by the police.^[16] The casualties reported in the accident were the 67-year old driver of the other vehicle, Vladimir Chepuljoski, who died on his way to the hospital, and his wife Margarita Chepuljoski, who died in hospital from injuries sustained in the crash on May 4.^[17][18][19] The organisers initially continued the rally despite the incident, in a later official statement the organisers stated that the clear details of the incident and confirmation of a fatality didn't occur until some hours after the briefing, at which point the decision to cancel the remainder of the rally was made.^[20][21]

Nicholas Morley was released from custody on £17,000 bail, but was later re-arrested in Skopje while attempting to leave the country using a private jet.^[22] The subsequent court hearing found Morley culpable in the deaths, passing a suspended sentence.^[23] After the verdict Morley's family released a statement^[24] detailing its own expert's findings, which contradict those of the prosecution's expert. The statement also claims that the defence were denied the opportunity to present their expert's findings, which could contravene article 6 of the European convention on human rights, the right to a fair trial. An appeal may be made.

[edit] 2008

The 2008 Gumball 3000 will take place in August. Cars with neutralized carbon emissions are preferred and proof will be required. The entry fee is £60,000 ($120,000US). The start line will be San Francisco, proceed through checkpoints in San Diego, Las Vegas, flight to Nanjing (Drivers stopping over in Pyongyang), Shanghai, and finally finishing in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games.^[25] John Mayer will be participating.^[26]

[edit] Winners

Gumball 3000 does not publish time-based figures for participants, who, by their entry contract, are legally barred from time-based competition. The main award is the so-called Spirit of the Gumball Trophy, which is awarded to the competitor that came out of the rally as the most positive and uncontroversial.

However, unofficial time-based results are commonly compiled and verified on the internet by fans through ALK/Copilot GPS timelogs/tracks, from eyewitness accounts, and from the official forums of the Gumball 3000^{[citation needed]}. In 2005, Gumball 3000 signed a sponsorship deal with ALK-Copilot, who provided publicly-available method of tracking Gumball participants en route in near-real time. Each car was provided with a bluetooth-enabled GPS Navphone with a transponder, making it easier to track Gumball participants.

[edit] Official Spirit of the Gumball Trophy Winners

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Year	Winners	Team	Car
1999	Luke Craft & Dylan Murray		1999 Light Car Company Rocket
2000	Tom Brudenell Bruce		2000 Ferrari 550
2001	Kim Schmitz		Mercedes-Benz Brabus SV12 Megacar
2002	Mark Croker & Rory Sweet		Ferrari F50
2003	Alex Roy & David Maher	Team Polizei	2000 BMW M5
2004	Gary Lutke & John Docherty		Citroën 2CV
2005	Sue Bellarby & Katie Huddart		Caterham 7
2006	Damian Williams, Richard Blackburn & Ezra Chapman		Rolls Royce Phantom
2007	Kemal Sadikoglu		Turkish Taxi

[edit] Commercial Items

[edit] DVDs/VHS

• 2000 Rally - VHS
• 2002 Rally - DVD - Mischief 3000
• 2003 Rally - DVD - Gumball 3000 The Movie
• 2004 Rally - DVD - 6 Days in May
• 2004 Rally - DVD - Driving me Crazy - A video diary of the Trip
• 2006 Rally - DVD - 3000 Miles - A Video Diary of Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Tony Hawk, Mike Escamilla & Mike Vallely
• 2006&2007 Rally - DVD - The Gumball Diaries - A Free DVD with November 2007's Fast Cars Magazine in the UK, Featured Footage from The Angry Pirates and Team Tony Hawk (2006) and from Team Latvia and The Fast Car Team (2007). There is also a photo montage from 99-07, interview with Max and trailers of all the movies (no new movies)
• 2007 Rally - DVD - Mike Figgis shot the first ever drama to be produced on the Gumball, a dark love story set between Istanbul, Bratislava and London. To be released in 2008.

[edit] CDs

Coinciding with the release of Gumball 3000 The Movie, a soundtrack was released.^[27]

[edit] Clothing

Gumball 3000, has an apparel brand, with a street wear label that appeals to the urban street, music and action sports worlds. Sold in high st shops and online, they have incorporating several collaboration pieces with many of today's most noted artists and designers, including Methamphibian. Their line includes, t-shirts, jackets, caps, trousers, shorts, wristbands, wallets, belts.^[28]

[edit] Games

A PS2 video game was released, called Gumball 3000.^[29]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website