just a thought.......
 

i would never want to tell anybody to do something they would not want to do especially if it were dangerous but i nominate the mule to run the next gumball ralley, i think it would be great for the lateral g-net sport of touring cars anybody else want to throw their hat in the ring?

Are you paying the entry fee?

ok the only reason i mention this this is after watching some video clips of the race it looks like a great time, that being said i don't agree with street racing but oh my god what a great time if you can afford it. people going as fast as they want to but still being safe, just like back in the 70's when brock yates started it.



any comments?

I watched about 30 seconds of the first two videos (all I could stomach), and hereby declare the above quote as the most assinine thing to dribble out of a human being's head EVER.

What's safe about it? Is the newest safety technology to not wear a helmet to decrease mass acceleration in case of a 100-0mph dead stop via a minivan traveling the opposite direction?

actually... it states right in the rules that the gumball 3000 is not a race at all, you must obey any/all traffic laws in whatever country you are in, but the first one to the finish point does get a prize.

the entry fee for the 2006 event is 40,000gbp or just over $73,000 us, you gotta get you and your car/co-driver to the starting point in london, pay for your own gas, they pay for hotels, transport of cars and driver teams from stage 1 to 2hong kong, and 2-3salt lake city.

so figure about $100,000, for 8 days of trying not to get caught breakin all kinds of laws in a bunch of different countries, if you crash or get caught your S.O.L. no refunds, no return transport if ya miss the plane. hmmmmm, anybody wants to sponsor me..im in :unibrow:

I'm not familiar with the rulebook, but I can only guess that rulebook page 1, rule #1 goes something like this:

"Must have more money than sense"

I've never been accused of being sensible but nonetheless, my money to sense ratio is a little upside down at the moment. Brock Yates conceived this event at a time when newly constructed highways were under-utilized--that means empty roads. I'm sure uncle Brock would be the first to admit that duplicating the race on today's congested highways constitutes vehicular manslaughter.

I'll admit: Just yesterday I hit triple digit speeds in a 55mph zone on an empty, divided 4 lane highway, but I ran the car up to speed and then immediately slowed. The thought of sustained high speed banzai runs in conjested areas makes me cringe. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but I see a difference.

sure it's a money is no object kind of race but hell what a good time rollin through europe or across the states with a credit card and lot of horsepower under your foot and not everybody drives like a fool in traffic, there are plenty times when there is no traffic to be had for miles for the high speed cruse.

I'll admit I have gone WAY over the speed limit, mostly in my sport bike days, but now I see the importance of doing it at the track...I'm with Steevo!!

Becides there has to be more fun in concentrating solely on your driving/car instead of looking for the next soccer mom or cop or dog or...well you get the picture.

Have fun, drive these cars fast, but please do it in a safe environment!!

Ok, stepping down....

yeah... i did triple the posted speed limit on I5 the other day(according to the speedo on the bike anyway, test ride on a busa which claimed to have the 186mph speed limiter removed) i really get all kinds of stupid when i get on a bike these days... thats why i sold my track bike and am seriously thinkin about building a bar hopper harley.... low, slow, loud, and proud

but aside from the occation head up my a$$ move like that... i try to play it safe on public roads... on a bike or in a car.