Last night the Modball 2009 rally had its launch party at the aloft hotel near O'Hare: http://www.modball.com/home/ So I went there in the hopes of getting some cool shots of exotic supercars. As we arrived at the hotel desk, the blonde concierge just gave me a friendly smile to the questions whether the modballers were here. Since these "races" are normally held somewhat undercover, I could understand her discretion. So I had a little chat with the bartender, who had heard of the modballers, but didn't know anything beyond that. While sipping on a drink we waited for their arrival and finally in they came: A handful of kids with goat-Ts and run of the mill tatoos. They were accompanied by one of the girls who looked official: She carried two big bags and I was hoping to snatch some Modball T-shirt, but instead she pulled out two gallon sized jugs of orange juice and gin. That was the party part. I was so disappointed, that by now I was begging for somebody like Tony Tag to walk into the doors, but no. So as we left, I took a look at the parking lot, which rounded out the impression I got from the drivers. Gumballers they were not: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And just for comparison, here some shots of what a proper Gumball rally looks like. This was in Barcelona in 2004 and tied in nicely with the F1 race: This was after they just destroyed an Enzo in Africa, came across the strait of Gibraltar, tore up the Costa del Sol, got caught by police, were thrown into jail and bailed out by their lawyers just in time to make the beginning of their night long party at the Barcelona hotel. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I never heard of this in my life. With that being said the G-coupe is a good daily driver and the NSX is pretty solid too. Otherwise, I checked out the website and you have to keep in mind that the cost is $600 per leg while the Gumball is running at around $50k for the entire rally IIRC. Totally different clientelle. I do like the aloft hotel though. It's nice and not expensive. I stayed at that one you were at and paid a little over $100 for the night. Plus they have a pool table and bags set outside, how can you go wrong?
I guess I learned that the hard way. The hotel and its location should have been giving me a clue: Last time we had the gumballers in town, they stayed at the Peninsula and it was all Ferraris, Lambos, you name it. Sadly I lost the pics from that event, but it was similar to the one in Spain.
Not sure when we will see something like that come through Chicago again. Although Gumball will be finishing in New York next year (May).
