Our drive here today was by far the best one. We started out the morning cruising together as a pack. That went on for the first 30 miles of the trip and then slowly got separated as people started making fuel and food stops. The scenery on the ride here was pretty awesome.

Spocknasty will be doing an update later with some of his pics of the ride here. Lucky him got to go on the Ferrari as they took the back roads all the way to the lodge :P

"This got me thinking... I realized that while two people from two entirely different countries and backgrounds may seem to have nothing in common, the only thing they might have in common is me..."

Unter dem vielsagenden Motto "let's socialize" trachtet David Hasselhoff nun danach, Menschen aus aller Welt im Internet seine Videos vorzuführen und ihnen etwaige (wahrscheinlich vorwiegend positive) Kommentare zu seiner Freizeitgestaltung, nämlich der Gumball- Rally zuzugestehen. Zusätzlich findet der moderne Hasselhoff-Freund die Möglichkeit sich am 'Hoffspace' Fangruppen wie der 'David Hasselhoff's Hair Appreciation Society' anzuschließen, um sich mit über 150 weiteren Mitgliedern über die markanten Löckchen seines Idols zu unterhalten oder man kann sich die 'Hoff around the World' Fotos zu Gemüte führen, sollte man sich tatsächlich über andere Hasselhoff-Fans Gedanken machen wollen.

Desde California hasta el Norte de Corea, el Gumball 3000 es uno de los rallies mas audaces del mundo. El evento de esta año comenzó en San Francisco, pasando por San Diego y Las Vegas, hasta llegar a Los Angeles, antes de tomar camino hacia China.

La primera reunion de los mas o menos 100 vehiculos participantes de esta edicion, se reunieron en el Hotel Fairmont, en el centro de San Francisco. De entre los vehiculos participantes llamaron la atencion uno de los primeros Gumpert Apollo Sport, asi como algunos de los mas caros como un Ferrari Enzo y un Jaguar XJ220 S TWR, entre otros.

Fuente: Supercars.net

A very good friend of mine, Jonny Jones (who's no stranger to this blog's pages) and some friends are imminently embarking on a road trip down to Monaco and back for charity.

"A road trip to Monaco and back? Sounds like a holiday if you ask me!"

Well yes, you may be thinking the above; a few chaps in modern, reliable cars, driving through France...that's not a big deal. Except they're not in modern, reliable cars, for this is the Crapheap Challenge 2008!

The guys have all bought older cars for under £500 and are attempting to make it to Dover...for now, I think this is the big milestone to see how many will blow up or how many will have bits drop off.

The attending cars include the likes of a Volvo 740 GLE, Ford Capri, Mercedes 300SE etc. all of which may not make it to Monaco, let alone get home again.

You can follow the guys and their antics throughout their trip by visiting and subscribing to The Crapheap Twitter Feed. When the trip is over Jonny will be busy editing all the footage and it'll appear on Crapheap TV for everyone to see.

They're off at 1am tomorrow morning (August 1st) so please DONATE some money for Naomi House Children's Hospice, the charity the chaps are doing this for.

Digg Story

Make no plans for August 9th! Get down to Nob Hill in San Francisco and watch the Gumball rally set off on what is guaranteed to be it's most exciting adventure yet.

The day starts at 10am (US time), there will be 120 super luxury custom and concept cars on display along with celebrities including David Hasslehoff, Travis Barker and Cheeta, the world's oldest non-human primate!

There will also be Puma and Gumball Apparel merchandise stalls and a huge LCD screen so that you don't miss any of the entertainment.

The start flag will drop at 1pm and all the Gumballers will make their way through the 50 foot starting towers and begin their 6000 mile tour across the globe.

Admission is free, so come down and catch a rare glimpse of some of the worlds most expensive and exclusive cars all together in one spectacular setting.

www.gumball3000.com

Cerca de 160 participantes (la mayoría famosetes y demás mobiliaro urbano de la telebasura germana) intentaban participar con alrededor de 80 bólidos de lujo en la Rushh Drive 2008, un remedo de la infame Gumball 3000 (aunque ellos no se cansen de negarlo).

Coches por valor de 8 millones de €uros sumando casi 30.000 C.V. de potencia en busca de un premio para el vencedor de 100.000 €uros. Pero que nadie se equivoque: ellos juran y perjuran que no se trata de una carrera (ilegal, que nadie lo olvide).

El jueves, la policía paró la caravana antes de que pudieran salir de Munich, decomisó 63 de los coches (Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati, incluso un Rolls Royce Phantom Cabrio y un Mercedes SLR) y los trasladó a una nave, donde quedaron retenidos hasta hoy domingo. Para muchos de los competidores la prueba se daba por concluida; sus coches no podían salir del improvisado “salón del Automóvil”.

Algunos, en un alarde de prepotencia, se agenciaron otros vehículos para poder continuar el paseo. Otro (miembro de la nobleza alemana) incluso aseguró que le sobraba el dinero (¿dónde ha oído eso antes?) y que si no le devolvían su auto se compraría otro en Düsseldorf para pasar el fin de semana según los planes previstos.

Hoy domingo, al mediodía, se les han devuelto los coches para que “tranquilamente, ¿entendido?” puedan regresar a sus casas. A ver lo que tardan en volver a intentarlo…

IMV Presents "It's not a race it's a rally" Gumball 3000 excerpt. A group of kids in a supra are in pursuit of a Porsche GT2.

The mission statement

The 2008 JDM All-stars Triple Crown Series is a combination of our efforts and success in our two major events in 2007.For 2008 we have combined efforts with a number of drivers running the series. We will create a compact series which will bring drifting to new areas of the UK, and raise the profile of drifting in the UK to new levels that have not been reached before.

They allready have corporate backing of one of the most famous 'rally organiser' in the world. We are talking about the Gumball 3000. It is not all about the drifting itself but they are also going to follow the drifters around Europe, so we will see a inside look on the life of the drifters.

The cream of the crop are going to compete in these new series. I'm definilety going to be present at a few of these event's this year. Really looking forward to it.

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The world is full of “vanilla” ideas. As a creative in the create-on-demand world, I’ve served up bowls and bowls of vanilla. I thought, my boss thought, the client thought these blaaaaaah ideas were so great. Wrong! I’m shooting for rainbow sprinkles.

That’s the focus of this blog… rants and ramblings about the creative process, big ideas and funny life stories. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to a place where my work is not vanilla. And I encourage you to post your “vanilla” stories and how you would make them better than vanilla.

Thanks for your time. Watch for new stuff soon.

later...
Schomber

(...)(Un rallye de película en la más pura tradición de los Cannoball americanos, el Gumball 3000 ha recorrido en seis etapas 3000 millas por las carreteras francesas, españolas y marroquíes. Sus participantes son millonarios con muchas ganas de pisar a fondo el acelerador en los bólidos más veloces y caros del mundo por autopistas abiertas al tráfico. Coleccionan multas por conducción temeraria y exceso de velocidad sin problemas para sus abultados bolsillos, en una prueba en la que la propia organización se ríe de las normas de circulación de los países que atraviesan a más de 250 kilómetros por hora de media.

(...) Detrás del Gumball 3000 hay mucho más que una pandilla de ociosos multimillonarios. Desde 1999 este rallye, creado por un fanático de los súper deportivos que se hace llamar Maximillion Cooper, permite a los propietarios de los coches más exclusivos poner a prueba sus máquinas. Entre los pilotos que han tomado parte en esta prueba a lo largo de las cinco ediciones que se llevan disputadas hay muchas caras conocidas, como los actores Jason Priestley (famoso por su papel de Brandon en Sensación de Vivir) y Adrien Brody (protagonista de la película El Pianista), la cantante Danii Minogue (hermana de Killie), la modelo Jodie Kidd, el músico Jamiroquai o la princesa Tamara Czartoryski de Borbón, prima segunda del Rey Juan Carlos (...)

(...) El derroche de medios es digno de las escuderías oficiales más potentes del mundo. Kim Schmitz, vencedor de la edición de 2001, no dudó en fletar un jet privado para tener una rueda Brabus similar a las otras tres que montaba su Brabus V12 (sobre base Mercedes S600). El llantazo se produjo en Gran Bretaña y los eficaces servicios de asistencia de la marca de la estrella atendieron la emergencia en 16 minutos, pero no tenía el modelo de llanta que Kim quería y en su lugar le montaron una AMG (...)

(Vía Autociy)

Büyük bir heyecanla beklediğimiz, fakat hızlı bir şekilde ülkemizden geçiş yapan Gumball 3000, tatsız bir kaza sonrası iptal edildi. Bu yıl hem daha büyük ve heyecanlı olacağını beklediğimiz rallide, Techart 911 Turbo ile yarışan Nick Morley ve Matthew McConville ikilisi, Makedonya'da VW Golf kullanan bir çifte çarptı. 67 yaşındaki Golf sürücüsü olay yerinde kalp krizinden hayatını kaybederken, eşi de ciddi bir şekilde yaralandı.

Bu noktadan sonra işleri daha da karıştıran Nick ve Matthew'ün olay yerinden kaçmaya çalışması oldu. Biraz ileride başka bir Gumball yarışçısı tarafından araca alınan ikili Makedonya-Arnavutluk sınırında tutuklandı.

Bütün bu gelişmeler sonrası organizasyonun geri kalanı iptal edildi ve gelecek yılın planları da tehlikeye girdi.

28 Nisan'da Londra'da Sofitel St. James'de yapılan parti ile start alan yarış, 29 Nisan günü Londra'da Pall Mall'dan motorlara çalıştırılması ile başlamıştı. İlk günkü rota Fransa, Belçika ve Amsterdam'dı. Amsterdam yarış için kontrol noktası "check point" olunca, tabii ki burada ki partilere de katılmak yarışmacılar için farz oldu denebilir. 30 Nisan günü ise yeni rota yarışmacılara verildi. Amsterdam - Frankfurt + uçakla İstanbul. Evet, yarışmacılar Amsterdam - Frankfurt arasını arabaları ile Frankfurt İstanbul arasını ise Gumball organizasyonunun Antanov marka uçakları ile arabalarını taşıyarak İstanbul'a geleceklerdi.

Ancak bu plan Almanya'nın aldığı gerekçeli bir karar ile sekteye uğradı. Alman hükümeti yarışçıların hız sınırlamalarını ihlal ettiği gerekçesi ile yarışmayı yasadışı ilan ederken, yarışmacılara ait 93 adet otomobilin ülkeden çıkışına da mani oldu. Alman polisinin olayı Türk polisine haber vermesi ile de yarışmacıların çoğu İstanbul'a uçakla geldikten sonra, tekrar uçakla Atina'ya uçtular. Arabaları ise doğrudan Atina'ya gönderildi. İstanbul'a karadan ulaşan 3 ekip vardı. Bunlar Team Turkish Taxi, Team Aytaç ve Team Polizei. Onlar da dün İstanbul'dan Atina'ya doğru yola çıktılar, hatta çoktan Atina'ya vardılar bile.

Dal sito businesswire.com altri aggiornamenti sulla partecipazione di Jasony Kay.

Rappresenterà il team Adidas Gumball Rally 2007

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The Arcade Fire – Intervention
The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Emma Pollock – Limbs
Gumball – All The Time
Idlewild - Everything (As It Moves)
James King & The Lonewolves – The Angels Know
Kristin Hersh – In Shock
Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost
Mercury Rev - Empire State
Teenage Fanclub - Is This Music
TV21 – This Is Zero (Original version)
We Were promised Jetpacks - Crawling Home

Buy records by the Arcade Fire, Gumball, Idlewild, Kristin Hersh, and Mercury RevTeenage Fanclub here. Try and buy records by TV21 and James King here. Emma Pollock's records will be available shortly, as will We Were Promised Jetpacks hopefully!

News flash

This is probably old news but Emma will be doing her debut solo tour with a band as follows:

Sat 21 April - Glasgow ABC (supporting Camera Obscura)
Sun 29 April - Glasgow Tramway (as part of Ballads of The Book Event)
Sat 12 May - Aberdeen Kef
Sun 13 May - Dundee Westport Bar (support from Hazey Janes)
Mon 14 May - Edinburgh Caberet Voltaire (support from Popup)
Tue 15 May - Glasgow Barfly (support from Popup)
Fri 18 May - Dunfermline Tigerfest
Mon 21 May - Newcastle Evolution Festival @ Cluny (support from Emmy the Great)
Tues 22 May - Leeds Brudenell Social Club (support from Emmy the Great)
Wed 23 May - Brighton Barfly (support from Emmy the Great)
Thur 24 May - London Borderline
Fri 25 May - Birmingham Glee Club (studio) (support from Emmy the Great)
Sat 26 May - Norwich Arts Centre (support from Emmy the Great)
Sun 27 May - Nottingham Dot To Dot Festival @ Social (support from Emmy the Great)
Mon 28 May - Bristol Thekla (support from Emmy the Great)

A single 'Adrenaline' is released on 21st May backed by 'A Glorious Day' based on the poen by Brendan Cleary. (Source www.emmapollock.com)

As anyone in the UK must have noticed, yesterday was Red Nose Day. My kids were encouraged to wear outsize clothes to school (and to pay for the privilege). Rifling through my old t-shirt drawer, S settled on a t-shirt of a band I hadn’t thought about for quite a while – Gumball.

Comprising Don Fleming, Jay Spiegel and Eric Vermillion, I was attracted to the band after Fleming’s brief cameo in Dinosaur Jr when he played on the original ‘The Wagon’ single. The b-side of that record was written by Fleming and was an excellent song called ‘Better Than Gone’.

Gumball’s debut LP ‘Special Kiss’ released in 1991 on Paperhouse took ‘Better Than Gone’ as a template for the LP- essentially grunge pop songs with sometimes quite airy melodies. There were a few wilder tunes on there as well. It’s really rather good.

The single off the LP was a fantastic song called ‘All The Time’. Surfing in on a memorable lead guitar part, it lasts less than 3 minutes but it seemed to perfectly fit the times. Fleming is perhaps better known as a producer of the likes of Sonic Youth and Teenage Fanclub, but the likes of ‘Better Than Gone’ and ‘All The Time’ illustrated that he had a flair for a pop melody.

Second LP ‘Super Tasty’ was a rockier affair (produced by Butch Vig) and not quite as good. A combination of less enthusiasm and less money meant that it was the last Gumball LP I bought although there was a third - ‘Revolution On Ice’ - which seems to be well enough regarded on line.

I always thought that the single was remixed slightly for the LP although I can’t find anything to confirm that. It may just have been down to the mastering. If the versions are slightly different then here is the rarer version from the 12”:

Gumball – All The Time

You can buy Gumball records from Amazon.

There is what seems to be an official Don Fleming website called Instant Mayhem here. A Gumball Myspace can be found here.

Al video apareixen grans marevelles com el Lancia, el emblemàtic AX i la gran marevella soviètica Lada Niva.