Gumball 3000
Gumball 3000 is a brand known for the annual Gumball 3000 Rally, an international celebrity motor rally that takes place on public roads. The brand was founded in 1999 by English entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper, with his vision to combine cars, music, fashion and popular culture.
Rally Format
The Gumball 3000 Rally takes approximately 120 vehicles across multiple countries on a journey that takes place across 6 days – occasionally including continental travel via cargo planes to transport vehicles by air. Entrants travel on public roads and use a mixture of vehicles ranging from custom classic cars to hypercars, and attend a VIP party, dinner or event each night. The rally features a number of exclusive experiences along the route that includes lunchtime checkpoints and overnight stops in major cities, where major public roads are often closed down to traffic for access of participating vehicles. The rally was founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper, initially as a road trip with his friends. Organisers emphasise that the event is a road trip and in no way a race or competition, with their rally slogan reading "It's a rally, not a race".Rally participants pay for their entry. The entry fee is not disclosed, only being revealed to successful prospective participants in the event.
Rally participants are split evenly each year between new and previous participants. Rally participants are referred to as 'Gumballers'.
Rally History
1999–2004
The Gumball 3000 was first launched in 1999. Maximillion Cooper started the event after he and a group of friends aimed to drive their supercars across Europe on a journey that they referred to as a rally. The rally was aimed at friends of Cooper, with an initial entry fee of $8,700. Participants had to use their own vehicles.The first event took inspiration from a number of racing events throughout the world. In 1933, motorcycle racer, Erwin Baker, had crossed the United States coast-to-coast in 54 hours. He earned the nickname "Cannonball" which spawned a number of race events in both the United States and Europe over the next few decades in his honor. The Cannonball events were held in the 1970s, with the first prize being a gumball machine. It has been suggested that this is the origin of the Gumball 3000 brand name.
The first event took place in 1999, with the journey starting in London and heading to Rimini, Italy before returning to London. Cooper planned different events on each night of the rally, ranging from parties to dinner events. The rally received extensive coverage in the British media due to the attendance of a number of high-profile figures including Kate Moss, Guy Ritchie and Kylie & Dannii Minogue.
Following the success of the first Gumball 3000 rally, the second event in 2000 began at the Marble Arch in London, before heading to Stansted airport to fly over to Spain. The rally then continued through Bilbao, Cannes, Milan, Hotel Bühlerhöhe Castle, Nürburgring GP circuit and Hamburg, before heading back to the starting city, London.
The cars that participated in the rally were filmed by MTV for a Jackass Special, with the episode earning MTV their highest ratings for the year. Entrants who featured in the 2001 rally included Formula One World Champion Damon Hill in a Lamborghini and comedian Vic Reeves who drove a Mercedes-AMG.
In 2002, the Gumball 3000 made the first coast-to-coast journey across the contiguous United States, from New York City to Los Angeles. Checkpoints along the route included a stop at the White House in Washington, D.C.; Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee; Texas; Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico; the Grand Canyon; Las Vegas; and, finally, the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Among the participants were fashion designer Donna Karan, models Jodie Kidd and Amy Wesson, and actor Matthew McConaughey.
In 2003, Gumball 3000: The Movie was released. It was a 98-minute 2003 film feature directed by Steven Green and narrated by the late Burt Reynolds.
The fifth Annual Gumball 3000 rally began in San Francisco on the west coast of America and finished Miami, Florida. The rally passed through Reno, Nevada; Las Vegas; Tucson, Arizona; White Sands, New Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; and New Orleans. Featured participants included Travis Pastrana, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, who drove in a Dodge Viper the late Jackass
2005–2009: Event Growth
waved the start flag of the 2005 Gumball 3000, that travelled from London to Monte Carlo. Entrants drove through Brussels, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Sicily, Rome and Florence, before crossing the finishing line in Monte Carlo. Models Caprice Bourret and Jodie Kidd joined singer Jay Kay from Jamiroquai, British rock band The Darkness and Ken Block in the list of celebrities taking part.The 2006 starting flag was dropped in London where participants then travelled onto Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, before jumping on a plane in Serbia to Thailand. The route then continued through Phuket and Bangkok, before flying to Salt Lake City and finishing with a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Travis Barker was present on the 2006 rally, as well as Martine McCutcheon, who drove a pink Range Rover in an all-female team. Gumball 3000 Films also produced a movie, 3000 Miles, following five other entrants: skateboarders Tony Hawk, Bam Margera and Mike Vallely, BMX rider Mike Escamilla and Margera's Jackass co-star, Ryan Dunn.
The 2007 route was scheduled to travel from London to Istanbul, via Amsterdam, Munich, Tirana, Dubrovnik, and Athens. Over 100 contestants including actors Tamer Hassan and Danny Dyer and model and entrepreneur Caprice Bourret were scheduled to drive through 16 countries in eight days. The entrance fee for the 2007 rally was £28,000 for first-time drivers. In the 2007 event, two people in North Macedonia died in a traffic incident involving a participating rally vehicle. The incident occurred on 2 May 2007, when a TechArt Porsche 997 Turbo driven by Nicholas Morley collided with a Volkswagen Golf, whose occupants were both killed.
File:Bam and Ryan in Salt Lake City.jpg|thumb|TV personalities Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera during the 2006 rally
The organisers of the Gumball 3000 initially continued with the rally until the facts about the incident became clear, at which point rally organisers canceled the remainder of event as a mark of respect. The subsequent court hearing found Morley guilty and convicted him of "endangering traffic, leading to death"; he was released from custody after receiving a two-year suspended sentence.
In 2008, the rally travelled from San Francisco to China, finishing at the Beijing Olympics. The rally passed through Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas before flying to Nanjing in China and spending a night in North Korea for the Mass Games.
2010–2019
More than 100 cars took part in the rally in 2010. The rally began in London and ended in New York, passing through Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Boston, Quebec City and Toronto. Michael Madsen joined the rally, but was forced to leave the rally in Belgium after his driver was stopped by police for speeding. A number of other celebrities took part in the event, including Idris Elba and Cypress Hill. It was on this rally that Cooper met Grammy-winning US rapper Eve, who he later married in 2014 at the end of that year's rally.Starting in London's Covent Garden, the 2011 Gumball 3000 rally saw the entrants drive through Paris, Barcelona, Monaco, Venice, and Croatia, before finishing in Istanbul. Attendees of the launch party at the Playboy Club in London included Jo Wood, The Saturdays Vanessa White and former Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton. Participants in the rally included David Hasselhoff, Eve, Xzibit and Tony Hawk.
The 2012 rally was a 'Sea to Shining Sea' route in the US from New York to Los Angeles, stopping in Toronto, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Santa Fe and Las Vegas.
In 2013 Chernin Entertainment and Warner Bros acquired the rights to produce and develop a film based around the Gumball 3000 rally.
In 2014, and with a cost for participants rising to a rumoured £40,000, the rally started in the United States in Miami, before passing through Atlanta and New York City before flying to Western Europe to conclude the rally, travelling from Edinburgh and continuing through London, Paris and Barcelona, before finally culminating on the island of Ibiza.
During the 2014 event, Deadmau5 and his co-driver Tory Belleci drove a Nyan Cat inspired Ferrari 458 Spider named 'Purrari' that received a cease-and-desist order from Ferrari. The car was listed on Craigslist following the rally and was sold for $380,000.
In 2015 participants followed a transatlantic route from Stockholm to Las Vegas. Stops included Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Reno, San Francisco and Los Angeles, with a drive through Death Valley before reaching Las Vegas. Lewis Hamilton joined the final stage of the rally from Los Angeles to Las Vegas driving a Koenigsegg Agera HH. File:2015 Gumball 3000 09.jpg|thumb|Dolph Lundgren and Mathew Pritchard at the 2015 rally
The 2016 rally was from Dublin to Bucharest. David Hasselhoff waved the start flag in Dublin to mark the beginning of the rally. The route took participants from Dublin to Edinburgh, London, Rust, Prague and Budapest before ending in Bucharest. Other famous faces that took part were F1 drivers David Coulthard and Jean Alesi, Grammy-winning rapper Eve, Dutch DJ Afrojack, Major Lazer, rapper Bun B, pop star Marlon Roudette, music producer Dallas Austin, Sullivan Stapleton, reality star Calum Best and YouTuber Calfreezy. The 2016 Gumball rally featured a one-off 'Batmobile' based on a Lamborghini Gallardo, driven by Team Galag. It is estimated that over one million fans attended the 2016 rally across all locations.
In 2017, the rally began on 1 July from Riga, passing through Warsaw, Kraków, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Porto Montenegro, Tirana, Volos, then Athens, and finally to Mykonos for two days.
2018 saw the return of intercontinental travel as part of a rally route. The rally began on 5 August starting in London, passing through Domaine De Chantilly in France, Sforza Castle in Milan, Italy and heading to Bologna to fly on "Gumball Air" to head to Osaka, Japan. All participating vehicles were flown to Japan via two cargo planes. From Osaka the rally headed to Kyoto, Nanao before crossing the finish line in Tokyo.
The 2019 Gumball 3000 Rally took place in June, starting in Mykonos, Greece, before finishing on the Spanish island of Ibiza. The rally passed through Thessaloniki, Greece, Porto Montenegro, Montenegro, Venice, Italy, Monaco and Barcelona, Spain. Dutch DJ Afrojack participated in a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse and a Bugatti Chiron in matching blue camo livery.