Gumball 3000 has announced the dates and route for the Gumball 2008 Rally. As expected, the entrance fee for Gumball 2008 remains at an incredible 120.000 dollars per team, the Gumball 2008 start will be in August 2008 and it will run from San Fransisco to Beijing. Gumball 3000 also announced a new 2008 Gumball Rally website to be launched on april 1st (has to be a joke!) aimed at user generated content. Our guess is that it will be ruled after communist Chinese model with plenty of censorship like we have experienced first hand last year. But you can always post your Gumball 2008 photos and videos in our ‘uncensored’ Gumball 3000 forum.

Gumball 2008 press release from Max
19th February 2008

The dates and route of the “10th Anniversary” Gumball 3000 Rally are officially announced.

The Gumball 2008 will take place in August this year starting in San Francisco and finishing 8 days later in China at the Beijing Olympics. Dates of the rally are August 9th-16th 2008.

Being the 10th anniversary this route is nothing short of spectacular, and ground breaking to say the least! Setting off from San Francisco, the Gumball 2008 route incorporates Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas, with checkpoints each day and VIP parties each night. From Las Vegas all 120 vehicles (low-riders to supercars) will be flown on 3 of the worlds largest Antonov Cargo Planes to Nanjing, China; and all participants will get to experience an unprecedented 1 night in North Korea as part of a global ‘friendship’ initiative, getting to watch the Mass Games (their version of the Olympics) en route to rejoin their cars in Nanjing. From Nanjing the Gumball 2008 route heads north to Shanghai and then Xuzhou, before crossing the Gumball 2008 finish line in Beijing during the Olympic Games.

Gumball 2008 entry fee is £60.000 (90.000 euro or 120.000 dollars) per car (2 people) and of course includes everything throughout the 8 days, incl. hotels, parties, flying the cars around etc…and tickets to the Olympics.

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Gumball 3000 HQ started to inform previous Gumballers about their plans for the 2008 Gumball rally. Although the crash on the Gumball 2007 made many people wonder if they should continue at all, the organisers are certain the 10th edition of the Gumball 3000 is a big reason for celebration. For now the route is said to go from San Francisco (United States) to Beijing (China). From San Francisco the teams will drive to Las Vegas. From Vegas all cars will be flown to Shanghai while all the Gumballers make a stop in North-Korea (as promised for the 2006 Gumball). After a short stay in North Korea the Gumballers will be reunited with their cars in Shanghai for the final drive to Beijing.

Ignoring the usual pre-rally hyping in the announcement it leaves us with a couple facts for the Gumball 2008:

More information and the full Gumball 2008 announcement can be found in our Gumball 2008 forum!