Wednesday 8th August 2018

Gumball 3000 Rally 2018: PH Gallery

That most infamous of road rallies kicks off for its 20th instalment; PH waved them off...

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The Gumball 3000 Rally returned to London last weekend for its 20th instalment. Celebrities such as Usher, Afrojack and David Hasselhoff joined hundreds of other 'Gumballers' at Covent Garden with over 150 supercars and performance cars participating in the rally.

Star cars of the rally included at least six of the new Ferrari 812 Superfast, a handful of Lamborghini Huracan Performantes, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 hypercars, K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, the very cool Lamborghini Murcielago SV, a Pagani Huayra, and a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. The real head turners, however, included a yellow Ferrari 288 GTO from Australia, a very nice Mercedes Benz AMG GT R that paid homage to the 'Red Pig', two Lexus LF As (one of which was a 1/50 Nurburgring edition), the E.C Only One P8 which is a V8 1,200kg Italian prototype, and a Mercedes Benz 300SL.

The 300SL in question was one of the 11 retro-modded by AMG (believed to have been commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei) which features modern running gear, engine and interior, but with an original 300SL body.

This year's rally started in London, and at the time we are writing this, heads on through Europe to Milan. The cars then all fly to Japan where the tour continues to the finish line in Tokyo. The Gumball 3000 rally has become infamous for partying and reckless driving; however, there is no ignoring the near £500,000 that was raised for charity by the teams this year before the rally even began. Which of these would you take on the Gumball?

[jfire]

Saw them coming down the M2 on Sunday. Always seen this in the media but never really thought much about it. Reading up on the previous years where pedestrians have been killed, and dozens of participants lose their licenses, the notion descends quickly from one of glamour, to one of incredible frustration at driving at 70mph on British roads, down to France where I hear they've now reduced their limits to 80kph

[7795]

"It's not a race, it's a rally" was the old slogan.

These days though it seems like the whole world knows it's coming and the whole route is monitored by very strict speed controls by all the various countries Police forces...

The days of Kimble, Ant (BMW330d), Lonman (GT2), Alex Roy and others are long gone...

ETA...some very nice machines there though.

Edited by 7795 on Wednesday 8th August 12:26

[C70R]

7795 said:

These days though it seems like the whole world knows it's coming and the whole route is monitored by very strict speed controls by all the various countries Police forces...

This is because it's not an event about cars; it's an event about relentless attention wes who happen to be driving cars.

[jfire]

With the publicity, the participants get attention and charities and sponsors make money, and as a result of their awareness so do the local police forces who are out with speed guns en masse.

Or keep the attention to a minimum and it's not an event.

Zero sum game

[so called]

I got passed/ surrounded by a few #### Rally cars in France a couple of years ago while heading to Spain in my Tuscan.

Lots of Police patrol cars etc.
We made a fuel stop in northern France and saw two cars being 'guided' in to the service area.
There was a lot of head in hands and head shaking going on. Confiscations?
Low-loaders arrived just before we left.
Didn't look worth the hassle to me.

[C70R]

jfire said:

With the publicity, the participants get attention and charities and sponsors make money, and as a result of their awareness so do the local police forces who are out with speed guns en masse.

Or keep the attention to a minimum and it's not an event.

Zero sum game

Yes, "charity" is definitely the main reason why people take part. Definitely.
It's almost certainly not narcissism...

ETA - do we think charities really want to be associated with the kind of f*ckwittery that goes on?

[h0b0]

7795 said:

The days of Kimble,

Kimble is a man with a very interesting life story. He is otherwise known as Kim Dot Com.

[anonymous-user]

The Crack Fox said:

I'll bet Schmee is wking himself raw.

I am, some great machinery there !

Oh, I think you meant someone else ?

[7795]

h0b0 said:

7795 said:

The days of Kimble,

Kimble is a man with a very interesting life story. He is otherwise known as Kim Dot Com.

Yer I saw. He is not having a "Mega" time at the moment...

[ArmouredBiscuit]

GB3000 in a BAC Mono..........?! Great car, but that's a lot of driving to do solo.

[jfire]

ArmouredBiscuit said:

GB3000 in a BAC Mono..........?! Great car, but that's a lot of driving to do solo.

I see what people mean about the attention. Google that and the first result will inform you that Usher was driving it.

[h0b0]

In the past they have stickered up a bunch of cars just for the London procession. It makes great photos for their publicity.

[Gameface]

Bunch of wkers.

[Jon_S_Rally]

Was in London over the weekend but only heard about this when it was too late. Might have gone down there for a look otherwise. I suspect it's become somewhat of a commercial enterprise these days, but the shenanigans of some of the older ones is pretty legendary among some petrolheads. Seems a slightly odd route for this one though. Drive to Italy, then drive round Japan a bit, seems a bit strange?

[Never you mind]

60K to enter this if you do the Japan thing unless your Gumball Alumni Your car must also be stickered up all the way round. Was going to enter it but thought the deprecation on my car due to the mileage the notoriety of it along with 60K was almost the cost of a new Lambo Certainly a thing for wannabe A list celebs and those with very deep pockets.

[TWPC]

Is the Riversimple Rasa doing the whole journey?

[Cold]

Is there a sweepstake running on which car crashes first?

[Rawwr]

It's hard to tell if those photos were taken with a camera or a potato.

[seefarr]

What is this thing?

[130R]

7795 said:

h0b0 said:

7795 said:

The days of Kimble,

Kimble is a man with a very interesting life story. He is otherwise known as Kim Dot Com.

Yer I saw. He is not having a "Mega" time at the moment...

I remember him announcing that site as a "side project" back when he used to post on the M5 forums. Turning it into ~ the 13th most visited site on the internet was pretty damn impressive until the feds raided it.