Gumballers

Team Polizei’s Alex Roy, coast-to-coast record holder and Gumball 3000 veteran is driving coast to coast again. This time Alex Roy is joined by Autoblog’s Damon Lavrinc and friend Davey Johnson. They are not out to attack Alex Roy and David Maher’s record time of 31 hours and 4 minutes from New York to Los Angeles but to test technology for future projects.

This technology includes a live video feed incl. live chat that was also used by Team Arbuckle in the Gumball 3000 and a Google map that is updated real time from the car.

The route of this coast-to-coast drive will be totally different from the record run. The three left NYC this morning at 11:15 EST and are headed down the I-80 all the way from the George Washington Bridge in New York to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. From there it’s only a short drive down to Monterey where they will attend this weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

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The last three days we created a list of all the Gumballers and cars in this years Gumball 3000 Rally. Most popular cars in the rally this year are the Rolls Royce Phatom Drophead and the Ferrari F430 Spider. At least five of both supercars were present at this years Gumball 3000, followed by three Lamborghini Gallardo’s and three ‘normal’ Ferrari F430’s. The total number of cars in this years rally adds up to about 65, showcars excluded. Only a very small group of teams signed up for the full trip from San Francisco to Beijing, most of the teams displayed below only did the US leg or one day of this years Gumball 3000.

More information / teams and photos will be added over the next couple of days. If you know a team that did the Gumball 3000 but is not yet in the list or if you have additional information / photos / videos than please contact us.

The Gumball 2008 Team Portfolio:

Team #007 Jaguar XJ220 (white)
Gumball 3000 Founder
Driver: Maximillion Cooper

Team #009 Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead (CCCP)

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With a 45 minute delay the Gumball 3000 kicked off in downtown San Francisco this afternoon. The first checkpoint of the day is at Buttonwillow Raceway along the I-5 interstate. After a couple laps on the track the rally will continue to the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. There the cars will be on display at Hollywood Boulevard from 8pm onwards. For a full list of checkpoints and a timetable go here.

Below you can find a number of videos and photos from the start and the latest news from the road, frequently updated.

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Remember Team Polizei? And their infamous Team Polizei BMW M5? As we told you earlier this E39 BMW M5 tagged 144A was replaced by a new E39 BMW M5 tagged 144B. To celebrate The Driver book release in Europe Team Polizei shipped both cars to London, but that’s not all. There’s another addition to the Team Polizei lineup to be revealed here today in London, and you can make a guess what that is, correct a third E39 BMW M5 (they might get rare, so buy one yourself if you see one!). This latest addition to the team’s garage has been transformed to a race version! Among other things it has been lowered, equipped with a rollcage and it’s said to do a lap of something shortly!

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Old & New Team Polizei Interceptor

Gumball legend and current coast-to-coast record holder Alex Roy revealed his ‘highly anticipated‘ new car today. The new Team Polizei vehicle titled 144B is a 2000 E39 BMW M5. Yes, it’s the same car as the trusted old Team Polizei BMW M5 with some minor differences. The car has an entirely black interior instead of the black and gray interior found on the original 144A.

For that reason it’s hard to see the difference between 144A and 144B as you can see in the picture above. Based on Alex’s experience with the 144A BMW M5 the ‘new’ second hand 144B with 30.000 miles on the clock has been modified by AI Design in New York to become an exact replica of the previous Team Polizei Interceptor. Of course more advanced technology is used and the car has a bunch of new and improved features. As said before the new Team Polizei Interceptor was highly anticipated and opinions about the 144B are very diverse since it was revealed earlier tonight.

As most of you already know Gumball veteran Alex Roy of Team Polizei has been working hard on his rally memoirs. Alex Roy recently revealed that his upcoming book “The Driver” will include more then his epic journeys on the Bullrun and Gumball 3000. A part of the book will be dedicated to ‘various underground driving events herr Roy entered since 2000′. Only few (if any) of them have ever been documented until now.

Above you can see the cover of the European version of the book that according to his UK publisher Ebury Press is due to release the first week of january 2008. The cover also looks like a great DVD cover… we’re sure a DVD with Team Polizei highlights would be a hot item (What do you think Alex?)!

Starting this January Alex Roy will tour around Europe (in his Polizei M5?) to promote his book and to share his passion for what Alex describes as the ‘Outlaw Racing World’. Alex Roy will do preview readings of his book and meet & greets with fans at multiple cities across Europe. At this Alex Roy only planned the start of his book tour in London and he asked us to help him find other locations. Now you have an unique opportunity to suggest other stops for his European book tour in our forum!

Behind the scenes Team Polizei’s commander Alex Roy spend a lot of time over the past couple of months finishing his book. It’s about to hit the shelf and from what we heard it’s a must read for all the rally and car fans out there!

It’s possible to pre-order the book now, that way you will be one of the first to get your copy when it hits the stores! For all the Europeans it may be faster to pre-order at Amazon.co.uk.

Alex Roy just released a big version of his book cover! We can’t wait to read it and already ordered our copy!

The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World

Roadrally legend Kimble responded to an article in the NY times blog about the events on this years Gumball 3000. Kimble retired from the scene last year after 10 years of roadrallying and streetracing. Here is his responds to the recent events:

The Gumball was one of the best, mind blowing, adrenaline rushing, extreme and unforgettable experiences I ever had.

I finished the Gumball in first place 2001 and 2004. Max Cooper always knew that I am going full steam and he never had a problem with that. In the public he says “Its not a race, its a rally� but every participant knows that you can never do the 3000 miles in 6 days without speeding. My friends who did the rally in a Motorhome (and therefore couldn’t beat the speed limit) always arrived many hours late at the checkpoints / hotels (they missed ALL the parties) and sometimes only had 1 hour of sleep because everyone was already leaving again for the next leg.

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Team Polizei is pledging $10,000 toward the creation of a fund on behalf of Vladimir and Margarita Cepuljoski.

Other Gumballers have expressed interest in supporting the Cepuljoski family, including Team 53, who have started their own effort, and several drivers who wish to remain anonymous.

Any Gumballers or fans interested in supporting our joint efforts may contact Team Polizei at Cepuljoski Memorial
Family Fund.

More information can be found in our Gumball 3000 forum!

An open letter from Team Polizei regarding their withdrawl from Gumball 2007 and the fatal crash in Macedonia:

Team Polizei’s Alex Roy & Michael Ross feel compelled to challenge Gumball 3000 over the untenable position in which participants were placed.

At 8am on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007, Maximillion Cooper addressed a driver briefing in the Sheraton Hotel, Tirana, Albania.

Despite the disturbing rumours of the fatality of a Macedonian motorist on Wednesday, May 2nd, Mr. Cooper stated that “Gumball is often the subject of wild rumours,� after which the rally was allowed to proceed.

We question whether participants were given all facts available at that time, enabling them to exercise personal judgment in deciding whether to withdraw from the event immediately.

Press release from Gumball 3000 more then 24 hours after the incident. We hope more drivers follow Team Polizei’s example and withdraw from the rally as that’s the only appropriate thing to do after this tragedy…

Gumball 3000 is very saddened to announce a road accident which occurred yesterday, May 2nd, involving a participating vehicle and a local vehicle in Macedonia. Exact details are still filtering through, but below are the facts as of midday May 3rd 2007 issued by the Macedonian authorities.

An adult Macedonian male aged 67 died in hospital from a heart attack following the incident where the two cars collided. The participants in the rally were held in custody last night with a preliminary court judgement expected today.

Organisers of the rally would like to express its deepest condolences to the family of the victim for this tragic accident.

Maximillion Cooper, founder of the Rally says: “It is with extreme sadness I have to make an announcement of this nature in the events nine year history.. The event is organised with each local authorities support and permission, and drivers are under strict stipulation by abide by the laws and road regulations of the country they are driving through. It is extremely sad for this unfortunate accident to have occurred. I am informed that the incident was reported immediately by the drivers. Both drivers are extremely traumatised by this occurrence.”

We respect Team Polizei’s decision to withdraw from this years rally after a deadly accident yesterday. Here’s the message they send us:

In view of events of the past day, Alex Roy and Michael Ross of Team Polizei have withdrawn from the 2007 Gumball Rally. They are driving to Bratislava to thank the fans that have traveled from so far. They will make a further statement at 10.00 GMT.