Let's talk about the Gumball 3000

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform) 05/05/2016 at 13:23 • Filed to: None

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Most of you are probably aware of the Gumball 3000, the infamous cross-country road rally-turned-continental street race. Basically a lot of rich car enthusiasts festoon their high-end sports cars with over-the-top wraps and vinyls, and drive across Europe, reaching checkpoints along the way.

Since its inception, the rally has garnered a lot of hate and criticism for encouraging dangerous driving habits, such as the 2007 incident in which two people were killed by a Gumballer (Is that what they’re called?) in a Porsche 997 Turbo.

There is an obvious message here: do not drive recklessly, but there is a much larger problem here.

Being able to go fast, slide about, and have fun in general is something we all want to do, whether it is in our Camry commuter, or our Nissan Z, or our Ferrari. Being given the opportunity to do something like that is something we all dream about, but it is important to confine spirited driving to an area designated for such activities, such as a race track, or even an abandoned airfield as long as noting is of immediate harm to the driver or the vehicle.

In 2014, the Gumballers had stopped at Dunsfold, England to play on the Top Gear test track. The video linked above shows the drivers driving quickly, sliding around, driving around, and all sorts of stuff. They are on an abandoned airfield-turned-race track. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing in that situation.

However, the rally does encourage reckless driving off the race track as well. Every year, drivers are ticketed and licenses are revoked for being caught driving recklessly. Driving quickly on public roads is like performing surgery in an alley. No one says it is impossible, but you really would not want to be on the sharp end of the scalpel in that situation.

But here is the problem: Gumballers are ticketed and fined each year, but they really do not care.

We are talking about people who can not only afford to the entry fee, but can also afford to buy and customize high-end luxury sports cars in the first place. Compared to the entry fee of £40,000 (approximately $67,000), a speeding ticket, no matter how much it is, is just that; a speeding ticket. We are talking about people with a net worth of at least $50 million. They might as well add speeding tickets to the cost of the car.

Put this into perspective: you are building a computer. You can either get x gigabytes of RAM knowing you will need more in the future, or you can get as much RAM as you know you will need from the beginning. The computer costs upwards of $1000 (Ideally) and your extra RAM costs 1/10th of that. Can you justify the cost? Absolutely.

The same applies to Gumballers. You buy the car, customize it, and pay the entrance fee for at least $1 million. A speeding ticket is just a small fee to add to that.

What is the solution, you ask? Aside from petitioning for more strict consequences, be the change you want to see in the world . The famous Mahatma Gandhi quote is applicable in a lot of situations, including this one. Combat reckless driving with good driving. Make the reckless drivers stand out. Make sure people notice the difference. It can save lives.

tl;dr: Don’t drive like a dick.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > TheHondaBro 05/05/2016 at 13:24

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Basically a lot of rich car enthusiasts festoon their high-end sports cars with over-the-top wraps and vinyls, and drive across Europe, reaching checkpoints along the way.

Some are car enthusiasts. Many are just money/attention enthusiasts.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro 05/05/2016 at 13:26

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Some guys are doing it in matching Yugos this year.

qbeezy > TheHondaBro 05/05/2016 at 13:29

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Just replace “Gumballers” with “drivers”. They just do it behind a rally. People are doing 100 on the highway to work in worn down Jimmy’s. There’s just more hub bub about it because of cost expensive cars and partying. If you raise the consequence for them, it needs to apply to everyone.

Chariotoflove > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 13:31

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That would be awesome.

WRXasaurus > TheHondaBro 05/05/2016 at 13:33

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What I don’t understand is if they are so rich why don’t they pay to have to a section of the road they are traveling on closed to the public for a stretch. That way the governments would get more revenue, the gumballers would get the play with their fancy cars, and the public wouldn’t be put at risk. Win, win, win situation.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Chariotoflove 05/05/2016 at 13:34

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Chariotoflove > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 13:36

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Nice! Especially like the paint jobs. Makes me almost want one. Almost.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Chariotoflove 05/05/2016 at 13:38

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It’s hilarious. This is how rallies should be done. I want to do it in a Trabant. Except I’m not rich so.......

Chariotoflove > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 13:41

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That’s why God made Youtube. So we can live vicariously through the experiences of those younger and more successful than we.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Chariotoflove 05/05/2016 at 13:42

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Well... For my case, they’re not younger. But for sure more successful.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > WRXasaurus 05/05/2016 at 13:45

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Yeah let’s inconvenience the lives of thousands of people on any given work day so rich jagoffs can run their fancy toys

WRXasaurus > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 05/05/2016 at 13:46

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I’m not saying close the major highways, I’m thinking more like the fun side roads. And only for an hour or so.

Tripper > qbeezy 05/05/2016 at 13:49

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Chariotoflove > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 13:49

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Yeah, I realized that after. But don’t worry, someday you’ll be old like me and still not as successful.

DangerCarlos > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 05/05/2016 at 13:49

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So, Indy street courses? I keed, i keed

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Chariotoflove 05/05/2016 at 13:50

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Pls don’t make me cry.

Chariotoflove > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 13:51

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Share my pain, youngster.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > qbeezy 05/05/2016 at 13:52

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Not really, unless the ticket price is proportional to your income like in Sweden(?). If a ticket cost 1% of your income, it would suck equally for all drivers

DangerCarlos > qbeezy 05/05/2016 at 13:54

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There is a big difference between an isolated driver gratuitously exceeding limits and a string of showoffs trying to impress everyone, especially one another, on public roads. Sure, being rich and showy draws more ire than run of the mill street racers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be punished more harshly than a typical speeder. They are illegally street racing and should absolutely face harsher penalties.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 05/05/2016 at 14:07

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I disagree. Every person I’ve ever met who owns a Ferrari or a Lambo or McLaren or whatever have at the very least been interested in cars. Maybe they wouldn’t fit the Holy Jalopnik profile but they’re definitely car enthusiasts.

Where have all the lightweights gone? > WRXasaurus 05/05/2016 at 14:08

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This happened one year. I believe it was in 2006 (?), and they had just finished off a significant section of motorway. The king personally invited them to come as part of the route, and the motorway was closed down to Gumballers.

AfromanGTO > WRXasaurus 05/05/2016 at 14:08

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They have done that before in a few Gumballs.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > WRXasaurus 05/05/2016 at 14:08

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So the thousands of people who are lining the roads for most of the journey can see the cars.

PushToStart > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 14:09

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I think they ditched the Yugos in favor of a batshit batmobile thing and a Merc AMG GTS GT3-turned-road-legal.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > PushToStart 05/05/2016 at 14:10

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I wished they would have gone all the way in the Yugos.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 05/05/2016 at 14:15

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Fair point

PushToStart > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 14:18

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Probably would’ve been left behind because they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the rest of the pack going twice the speed limit.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > PushToStart 05/05/2016 at 14:19

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I think the Gumball would be more fun with shitty cars.

WRXasaurus > Where have all the lightweights gone? 05/05/2016 at 14:25

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That would work, or even better yet, how about they copy the Hot Rod Power Tour and just drive to a different racetrack every night.

AfromanGTO > TheHondaBro 05/05/2016 at 14:37

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Interesting thing to think about. Back in the early 2000s nobody knew or cared about the Gumball Rally. The Cannonball Run movies were last made in the 80s with Burt Reynolds. Only a very few people knew about these types of races. Ironically it wasn’t until the Jackass special that most people found out about it. It was the whole Fast and Furious time with underbody neons, big wings, and body kits.

Or watching the Lost Drive in on Speed. That played a bunch of cool car movies. You had movies like Cannonball made in 1976 that was about a cross country race. Which I think is one the better cross country movies, and it was more serious. Also identical 70-73 Trans Ams!

The Gumball Rally came out in 1976 as well, and has the great race between the Cobra and Ferrari.

The Cannonball Run was more of a goofy fun movie about the race, and after the second one it wasn’t in pop culture anymore.

It seems that the Jackass special, Tekademics Gumball 3000, and the youtube clips with dance music is what got people’s attention again.

Here’s one of the youtube videos from 06 that I am talking about. (Yes, that is Sunrise by 4 strings playing.) The whole not getting caught it part of the allure, but the big thing that most people don’t like is now it is just about being seen. Plus it spurred spin offs, a tv show, a few books, and some youtube channels. It has become too popular and glamorized. Instead of its lower key roots. When it was lower key and about setting records nobody really seemed to care. It seems to be less about driving, and more about partying and showing off their metallic wrapped exotic. Instead of blasting through the desert in the middle of the night in a Pantera with the highbeams on.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 05/05/2016 at 14:43

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Oh come on, this is the internet, we’re supposed to fight about this.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 05/05/2016 at 15:07

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*sighs* okay.

Grrrr posers argue they don’t care blah blah blah anybody with money can buy an Aventador grumble.

qbeezy > DangerCarlos 05/05/2016 at 16:11

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“There is a big difference between an isolated driver gratuitously exceeding limits and a string of showoffs trying to impress everyone, especially one another, on public roads.”

How? Excessive speeding is excessive speeding. Racing for a checkpoint is the same as speeding to race to a destination. Still the same driving wise. People speed on group c&c drives. People speed by others to show off. The only difference is bank accounts. People have always been showing off since the dawn of time. Whether it’s the Gumball or people with fast cars.

qbeezy > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua 05/05/2016 at 16:14

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Lol that could be shot down here. What if the guy decided to make his salary of a dollar, which used to be popular and other compensation in stock. 1¢ fine.

DangerCarlos > qbeezy 05/05/2016 at 16:25

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The law absolutely differentiates ‘speeding’ & ‘street racing’ with significant penalties applied to the latter. To just say these guys are excessively speeding is extremely disingenuous

qbeezy > DangerCarlos 05/05/2016 at 16:31

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Sure. If that’s what it is then fine. But is one more dangerous to society than another? There are many more instances of gratuitous drivers excessively speeding and actually killing more than the Gumball. I saw that just living in Detroit. Both are traveling at unsafe speeds, endangering other drivers. Penalties may be different, but the risk for innocent drivers are still the same.

PushToStart > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 17:29

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Idea: Scumball rally. We take shitty cars on a rally until they die.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > PushToStart 05/05/2016 at 17:34

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Holy shit yes. And the person who gets the least tickets has bragging rights. If you can’t tell, I’m a massive proponent of slow car fast.

PushToStart > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 17:37

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I call dibs on a clapped out Gremlin!

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > PushToStart 05/05/2016 at 17:41

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Alright. I’ve got the Trabant.

PushToStart > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/05/2016 at 19:35

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All we need now is someone to drive a Geo Metro and we’re good to go