Gumball 3000 Kicks Off in NYC
The infamous cross-country hoonfest known as the Gumball 3000 begins today from the glorious City of New York.
Attracting a host of C+/B List celebrities and some of the most outlandish paintjobs you’ll ever see on supercars, the Gumball is basically the ultimate celebration of four-wheeled flamboyance and stage for shenanigans unleashed on America’s unsuspecting highways.
I know… it sounds amazing.
So why doesn’t RoadRoving have a car in the grid?
Well, even if I could convince one of my buddies to lend me a sports car I’d still be a few bucks short of the entry fee- a cool £25,000 (just shy of 40 g’s). And that’s before you pay for the t-shirt.
The Gumball crew basically hauls ass from “sea to shining sea” (see map below) throwing wild parties at each overnight point and filming themselves ripping donuts every time they have to stop for a refuel.
The rally was never popular with police, but the reputation of the event soured significantly a few years ago when a couple rich thrill-seekers collided with civilians in oncoming traffic. The ralliers walked away unscathed, but the bystanders were killed instantly.
As a result, the Gumball 3000 now bills itself as “ambassadors of road safety” and will, apparently, be playing by the road rules and behaving themselves for the duration of the trip.
How a flotilla of attention-craving maniacs driving high powered sports cars is ever going to accomplish such a thing over a 3,000 mile journey is a mystery to me, but who knows. Maybe they’re just driving Lamborghinis for the great gas mileage.
Whatever their true intentions, we can be sure there will be a steady stream of awesome images snapped between NY and LA. The Gumball has its own host of Instagram, Flickr, and every other type of feed, but you might want to watch the accounts of your favorite Gumball celebrity for first-person action.
Here’s the list. If you don’t recognize somebody, don’t feel guilty. They probably don’t know you either.
- Maximillion Cooper (Event founder)
- Eve
- Estevan Oriol
- Bun B
- Idris Elba
- David Hasselhoff
- Johan ‘Yo’ Esbensen
- Mike Malbon
- DJ Muggs
- Tony Hawk
- James Bond
- Buttsy
- Dennis Rodman
- Caprice
- Bam Margera
- Mike Vallely
- Ryan Dunn
- Duane Peters
- Travis Barker
- Xzibit
- Bucky Lasek
- Mario
- The Dudesons
- Dirty Sanchez
- Daryl Hannah
- Jon Olsson
- Shane Lynch
- David Guetta
- Tamer Hassan
- Danny Dyer
- Goldie
- Jodie Kidd
- Rob Dyrdek
- Travis Pastrana
- Carey Hart
- Ndamukong Suh
- Mike “Rooftop” Escamilla
The car list isn’t published quite as conveniently, but I’ve seen Lamborghini Gallardos, at least one Aventador, Camaro, M3, SLS, various Ferraris, a few of the perennial favorite statement-maker- the Bugatti Veyron.
This particularly awesome image features a TWR-modified Jaguar XJ220 being unloaded from a jet, I can’t guarantee it’s from this year but I’ll keep our hopes up. If so, this would probably be the coolest vehicle of the event.
Otherwise, check out this wide-angle from Times Square last night, and a few subsequent images of the 2012 Gumball 3000 lineup.
