Gumball 360spider crash

In the UK i have seen disclaimers at the entrance of race ways, like santa pod. They say that spectators are there at there own risk......oh yea thanks for not attacking me on my last post becourse i thought it was a good point, although the day is young......

 

I agree with Maranelloman. I personally know four guys who entered their cars in the NY to LA rally. One of them had the RuF Turbo that had his speedo displayed on the internet at 205 mph on the open road. Have you watched the video and seen how these guys are running 120-140 mph on the open road and passing slower regular drivers on both sides at the same time? Have you watched the video where the drivers of the Gumball cars are filming their episodes with the police and running on the shoulder of the road at over 130 mph so they can get past regular traffic? By sending this video out for viewing, I don't care how much you get on and announce disclaimers about "it is not about speed", it is about speed and seeing how fast you can drive your car on the open road. If you want to do that go do it at one of the open road runs where they close the roads and do not put innocent people at risk. I believe it is the Golden State Classic and the one here in Texas near Fort Davis.

People who are not part of this circus should not be put at risk by the participants. The guys I know who participated came in a bought two Ferraris just for this one event and then put them up for sale afterward. The did not want a 355 or a 360. They had to have 550's with Tubis because they were "a lot faster". How much faster than a 355 do you "need" to go? How much faster than a 360? Now don't get me wrong. I love speed. I have been at high speeds many times. McLaren F1 at over 175 mph, fuel altered at over 180 mph in qtr., . However, these were during controlled driving and did not put someone else at risk. I have driven on freeways at high speeds but only in open spaces and certainly not in traffic. When I lived in West Texas, the roads out there allowed the freedom to do that. If I had to count the number of times I would have gone to jail if I had been caught I would have to take off my shoes and use my toes as well as my fingers. But, I controlled where I did it and when. Biggest thrill I ever had was when I cover a 32 mile section of hilly, twisty road between Orla, Texas and the Carlsbad highway on the back way to El Paso. Drove it in 20 minutes, meaning I averaged around 107 mph on the hills and twists. Not very long straights there. However, in that section of the highway there is not one crossroad or entry point in that 32 miles. And the road is such that you can see over the next rise pretty clearly. Would I do it again. No, not with what I know now.

No, it is not the promoters fault these guys see how much they can get away with. They even see who can get the most tickets........... It is inevitably up to the drivers to balance themselves and restrain themselves when they need to. The promoter cannot control this. And I realize that if he started banning certain participants for their irresponsibility he would probably shut down the Gumball within two years. So, he has to make the call what to do. By choosing to keep it going, he is, in effect, telling everyone "we condone your actions so go after it". So,, in effect, he is promoting the high speed antics we see on the road and encouraging the participants to do it.......

 

I had to try to sell K's black 355 F1. Took over a year to sell. Too many people knew of his exploits on track with the car. He maintained it well but it was "ridden hard and put up wet" as we say out here.

I met the promoter before the NY to LA run. He would just smile slyly and say" we are not promoting speed. It is up to the entrant what they choose to do. However, we cannot stop them if they want to do that". What does that say??????

 

RE: Trackside fatalities.

Read the back of your Indy 500 or F1 ticket. Racing is dangerous. Anywhere.

Don't sit in Turn 4. I've been there when they took away injured folks.

This Gumball thing is off the hook irresponsible IMO. Player's Run USA does offer track events in an effort to aviod open road incidents. I don't know that that works, given personalities involved.

Autoweek in the coverage of the Aussie Cannonball referred to Darwin when the two Japanese F40 drivers killed themselves, and two marshalls. Sad.

I just go to the parties!

Love to all,

Speedy

 

And another point: as far as I know, this company Teckademics is the predominant marketer of these videos. (I don't know why, because of the 3 or 4 I have seen they all suck...high school quality). But my point is that the other videos in their series are all about breaking laws and street racing.

I taped Mischief 3000 and have this to say about the two guys shooting the footage: they are GEEKS.

 

Dado (one of them) owns dtmpower.net

 

Interesting to note that aparently 5 gumballers going through Europe have been detained in spain (correct me if im wrong) including Lonman in his GT2. Their cars have been impounded. Rumour has it that they were arrested by the spanish police for no apparent reason. Probably arrested them knowing what they were going to do.
I am seeing alot more ppl saying that a Red Enzo crashed, its interesting that i have not seen it turn up at the various checkpoints. I mean, most ppl take photos of enzo's, so that's got me suss.
Also the King or whatever of Morroco has lifted all speed limits on his roads for the Rally. What an idiot.....

 

The disclaimers on the back of tickets are not worth the paper they are written on.

Real life example:

In New Zealand a classic car meeting was held at Queenstown around the streets. The crowd was roped off, etc. like normal, but 2 drunk men decided to get over the rope and sit closer to the track and watch. The track marshells tried to get them to move back but they were drunk and it got ugly. The marshells did not contact the organisers and stop the racing.

Unfortunately a Jaguar lost control and spun straight over top of these 2 guys ... dead!

The chief organiser and a track marshell were charged with manslaughter and I am not sure of the result, but it was a long court case.

I know this because my father organises classic race meetings in NZ.

Pete

 

No Cannonball run with ever occur in Australia again after this, period!

The interesting thing is this rally was 100% legal because it was held in the Northern Territory where there are NO speed limits anyway (there is nothing up there but desert ...).

Thus it is quite common to hire a car and driver over the border and give them a good thrash!

The organiser of that event was Alan Moffat, a famous ex-racing driver in Australia ... he has learnt that people that own fast and expensive cars can NOT necessarily handle them. This accident was caused by the F40 driver braking too hard and loosing control, just to stop for a control point. An experienced driver would simply have missed the control, turned around and driven back with an embarrassed grin on his/her face.

Pete

BTW: I have sped, I have raced through streets as a young foolish man at over 3 times the speed limit. This is not about that, this is about organising an event that encourages speeding on unclosed roads.

If they closed the roads, or enforced (and they can easily, other events do by have check points that you have to check into and the average speed is set very low) sensible speeds then I would be a huge Gumball supporter.

Instead this event promotes irresponsible road use which destroys the image of car enthuisasts for all others ... fnck wits!

 

150mph rally drivers are halted
By Philip Delves Broughton
(Filed: 12/05/2004)

Super-rich drivers hurtling through Europe in a rally at speeds that sometimes exceed 150mph have been hauled in by police.
Travel

Five of the competitors in the "Gumball 3000", including three Britons, were arrested for driving at more than 150mph along a coastal motorway south of Barcelona. They are likely to face charges of racing on a public road, speeding and dangerous driving.

Sixteen drivers were caught on speed cameras during the final leg of the rally - from northern Spain, along the Mediterranean to Cannes - going at more than 100mph. French police said they took away five drivers' licences and issued fines of more than £500 to the others.

In Spain last week, nine drivers received verbal warnings after they were caught using illegal radar detectors, which warned them when the police were tracking their speed.

Gumball 3000 began in 1999 in tribute to Burt Reynolds' Cannonball Run films, in which cars raced on ordinary roads across America. In this year's version, 165 cars started in Paris on May 4 and drove 3,000 miles in six days through France, Spain and Morocco and back up to Cannes in time for the film festival, which begins today.

Entry to the rally costs £8,000. Most of the cars were Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes and Porsches but there were also a few Bentleys and a "souped-up" Fiat Cinquecento. The actor Adrien Brody, model Jodie Kidd and musician Jamiroquai were believed to be among the racers.

 

.....Jamiroquai???

That's the first I heard of him in the rally. Did he enter his black Enzo? ;-)

Vasco.R

 

"Darwinism at Speed" THAT was the name of the article in Autoweek.

What I got from it will stay with me forever, the statement we've seen proven time and again,

"A Ferrari OWNER is not always a Ferrari DRIVER"

I had the pic of that crash on my garage wall for years, where I saw it every time I opened the car door, leaving or arriving.

Great thread ya'll.

I'll take a copy of "Cannonball" Brock Yates with me this weekend, but for bedtime reading, not inspiration!!!!! I may make Valeria emulate the RightBra squad however!


Speedy308's Transcontinental Vintage Car Run, May 14, 2004 thru May 17, 2004. Participants: (1) Route: Undisclosed

 

.