Comments on: Gumball accident in Macedonia

By: dale

dale — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:21:06 +0000

The elderly man driving the Golf ran a stop sign and the driver of the Porche was clearly speeding. In the end the driver of the Porsche did not face jail time. To this day the Gumball lives on……

Do any of you realize there are drivers who attempt to break the world record of the cannonball run every year?

By: Gumball 300

Gumball 300 — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:50:13 +0000

Gumball should be banned for life!

By: j1211

j1211 — Mon, 07 May 2007 02:42:59 +0000

I think the Gumball Rally really should be ended forever, if it isn’t already done after this. It’s one thing if it were run by professional race car drivers, but these are just regular people with no real experience at controlling cars at these speeds. Taking a 5-day “M school�? or “Bondurant�? course won’t do much to help either.

The other thing that bothers me is that its done on public roads. I guaruntee you the people in the golf never thought they were driving on the Nurburgring Nordschleife when they were driving down a country road in their town.

Gumball Rally is quick to remind you that “This is the first time anything like this has happened in 9 years of travelling through over 40 countries with 1000’s of drivers” but it only takes one innocent life to be cut short to do others’ recklessness… and it’s nothing short of miraculous that nothing has happened before this.

Simply put: Gumball is a race of cars capable of unbelievable speeds… that takes place on public roads with innocent people… it’s a recipe for disaster. They have their disclaimer before the race reminding participants not to speed… but then they all laugh at it including Max, the organizer, which we’ve all seen in the video.

I hope Max and the participants will be responsible enough to own up to what has already happened and know enough that the time has come for it to just stop.

By: Noname

Noname — Sun, 06 May 2007 19:23:50 +0000

I share the same opinion… you guys should STOP gumball forever!!
SHAME on you!!
You killed 2 persons with such a STUPID behavior… I hope you’ll be sent to prison.

REMEMBER: Life is something EVEN YOU CAN’T BUY FOR F***ING MONEY!

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:12:41 +0000

My condolences to the Family and friends of the bereaved, I agree with so many of the comments that have been left. I personally feel that the Driver and passenger of the Porsche should be held as an example to would be “Race drivers”
If they are prosecuted and jailed, it will be a deterrent to others that are willing to follow their example!

By: aristro

aristro — Sat, 05 May 2007 09:32:43 +0000

Gumball3000 is no race, its just an illness.
It sucks if someone has to die just because some crazy guys want to have some fun.

By: D,Beckersson

D,Beckersson — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:44:28 +0000

Does anyone now what happend to the drivers of the porsche 911?? Are they going to jail? Heard they were in court yesterday, but havent heard anything about that.

My Condolences too the family..

By: rico

rico — Sat, 05 May 2007 06:24:10 +0000

Shut down this event now!

By: dolfi

dolfi — Fri, 04 May 2007 20:51:04 +0000

Very sad this had happened, no one can excuse death of two local people. As always, the ones responsible for this walked away unharmed, and even tried to escape from the scene – sign enough for me that THEY caused the incident and local offices should make as strict and exemplar punishment as possible. I watched Gumball 3000 with sympathies, but maybe Max Cooper should think now about stopping this event for good – that would probably be the best sign of his condolences to those who died in Macedonia. As the rest of the participants arrived to Slovakia as the final point after all that happened, police welcomed the drivers with road controls and radars, given them freedom enough to drive, but watched them carefuly, on the other side.

By: hristijan

hristijan — Fri, 04 May 2007 18:56:33 +0000

The gumball3000 has too be canceled FOREVER.The wife died

By: l1121

l1121 — Fri, 04 May 2007 16:05:11 +0000

The rally should be stopped… and probably ended altogether for future years. It’s one thing if it were run by professional race car drivers, but these are people with no real experience controlling cars at these speeds. Taking a 5-day “M school” or “Bondurant” course won’t do much to help either.

The other thing that bothers me is that this is done on public roads. I guaruntee you the people in the golf never thought they were driving on the Nurburgring Nordschleife when they were driving down a country road in their town. My heart truly goes out to them, especially to the wife who now is without her husband :(

By: Jas

Jas — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:18:25 +0000

BAD NEWS. Wife died too.. Sorry :(

By: @Frangie

@Frangie — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:57:30 +0000

@Frangie (May 2nd, 2007 21:02):
You don’t hope that it’s an Martini Porsche?!?

I’m also a Porsche-Maniac, but that’s perverse… Someone died and you’re worry about the car.

(…)

By: Stuart Moir

Stuart Moir — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:57:41 +0000

This is not very good for motor sport, the competitors should be prosecuted for leaving the scene of an accident,but we must all watch what comments we make as we do not know who was responsible even though the porche was travelling fast, and as we all know that is what racing is all about, who is to say what speed it was doing at the time and where this incident took place and moreover where the third parties car was on the highway, we must wait for the police report as speculation is a dangerous thing.

By: Daniel, Struga

Daniel, Struga — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:00:34 +0000

First my condolences to the Chepunjoski family.
This accident was the last thing that should happen to that family.Namely, their son died at age of 30 from lung cancer,the brother of a killed died also in a car accident in Australia few years ago.This was not soposed to happen but it did. And why? Nobody knows why, but we all know that it could be prevented if only the gumball pariticpant has driven acording the road signs and conditions.The speed limit on that road part is 80 Km/h.If he only drove with that speed one death would be prevented.
“The Gumblle 300 is not a race”.If it`s not a reace,what the hell was he and other cars doing by driving over 200 kM/h?My thinking is that if someone drives with 200 kM/h in a populated place, eather he has a death wish or he wants to kill somebody. We all drive cars, not fancy as gumball participants, but driving is driving,and the ruls,regulations and laws are the same,starting from simple ford,renault,opel to Lamborghini,porche,bmw,mercedes,etc.Who`s to blame i don`t know, i will leave that to the concience of the driver!

By: Arthur

Arthur — Fri, 04 May 2007 11:08:17 +0000

My condolences go out to the wife and family members of the innocent man who died. My stomach turned when those pigs tried to fled the country instead. If it was up to me they would be chained like an animal for the rest of their life.
Bye pigs have a good time in jail.

By: J.

J. — Fri, 04 May 2007 09:53:18 +0000

“OMG why did this happen ? the first gumball dead.I never thought it would ever happen.” – gumballfan

Are you really that naive? This was bound to happen at one point. It has happened in similar rally’s before. I love these supercars but this sort of behaviour i disapprove of. I hope we can get a EU-wide ban on this sort of ego-inflating stupidity that can do harm to other innocent people.

By: J.

J. — Fri, 04 May 2007 09:30:14 +0000

Sadly enough I saw this coming. The Gumballers are irresponsible ingnorants. Just look at the “rally’s” timeframe and the distances to be driven. This simple equation was one of the key elements by the German police when assessing the whole situation. With 100+ km/h average speed (!) neccessary it is clearly not longer a rally but a race. The question is if Gumball itself can partly be held legally responsible for the accident. Of course according the general participation conditions of Gumball reckless driving etc. is clearly not wanted. However with the timeframes given irresponsible speeding etc. are only a logical consequence and therefore indirectly accepted…

By: RRD

RRD — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:20:02 +0000

This is unbelievably sad and leaves me almost speechless how something that had brought happiness to hundreds of thousands of people ends in such a horrific way. My thoughts go out the deceased’s family.

By: Marina

Marina — Fri, 04 May 2007 07:59:02 +0000

The lawyers are trying to release the driver by blaming the dead man only. But there is a video from the security camera on the gas station near by. The truth will come out. Shame for the name of Gumball Raly. I thought this was for fun. It, s not fun to make an accident and try to get away from the injured people who may be dead. And try to leave the country. Criminals do that!