Today we received the first information about the Torpedo Run 2008:

This years’ Torpedo Run will be held between 12th September 2008 and 14th September 2008. With the start in Ahaus, North of Düsseldorf (Germany), and end in St. Tropez (France) at the Mediterranean coast, you can look forward to an extraordinary mobile party. Torpedo Run gives you a weekend of sheer fun: action-packed events, awsome locations, amazing views and breathtaking mountain passes. In addition culinary pleasures, luxury hotels and stylish parties. New challenges and exclusive events are going to await you at all times.

During the Torpedo Run you experience several European countries. Starting in Ahaus you drive across the Benelux countries to Paris, the luxury capital of France. From thence across the land of the volcanos to Lyon. Before arriving at St. Tropez, the embodiment of jet set tourism, you will experience thrilling mountain roads and impressive massifs. Each night you will stay in luxury hotels, revel in culinary pleasures and celebrate eccentric parties. Torpedo Run is not a race, it’s about passion. There is no timing and no competition. Nobody is pressed for time to enjoy the whole event. So we got the official go of the government and administrative authority.

The locations and venues this year are something not to be missed. The motto “Torpedo Run in the altitudes” runs through the events. Teams who have already participated in the Torpedo Run know that we organize superb events coming along with a lot of fun. We bring a wealth of experience: Torpedo Run already takes place for the fourth year in succession.

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Without a doubt the best supercar rally from the past two years, Carbon Black, won’t take place as scheduled in May of this year. But instead it’s moved to the fall; from 28th of September until the 3rd of October 2008 the Carbon Black will once again head out to Eastern Europe for an adrenaline rushed week. The organisers also decided to cut down the number of entrants from 60 back to 30 teams. This probably means they didn’t have more than 30 teams signed up and paid for the May 2008 event and it will guarentee they can deliver the highest standard of service to all the participating teams.

Read the full statement below:

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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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Team Darkcyd is definitely one of the most famous and acknowledged teams in the Rally scene. Team Darkcyd is lead by Robb Rill as driver and Tara Rill, Co-driver/Navigator. Robb allways provides us with the hottest updates right from the street. Last year Team Darkcyd even participate the Baja 1000, one of the thoughest off-road races on the planet.
To make the time to the Bullrun 2008 a little bit shorter, Team Darkcyd shares with us a 1 hour 39 minutes (!!!) video with footage of the Bullrun 2006. Enjoy!!!
Visit our Bullrun forum to read the latest updates!

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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The Bullrun 2008 dates are finally announced! This years Bullrun will start at the 20th June and finish at the 27th June 2008. Starting city will be Calgary, Canada.

Here is the offical press release:

Bullrun dates and route!

Where are we going this year? Bullrun is rallying the amazing Continental Divide!

WHEN: 20th June - 27th June 2008
WHERE: Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Phoenix, Arizona, USA

So…What’s Happening..?

Another 8 nights and 7 days of the finest driving and partying will be a fitting celebration for Bullruns’ 5th year and now 7th rally. Are you tough enough?
Bullrun 2008 will, without doubt, include the best driving roads yet witnessed, some amazing hotels and resorts and of course more of the planned and unplanned mayhem usually associated with the run.
As always, COMPLETE details of the event will remain a secret.
Highlights…don’t miss it!

Highlights of the ‘08 Rally will include, a spectacular startline event, closed course challenges by the Hollywood stunt team that brought you the Bullrun show on MTV Spike, race track events, exclusive parties and as always an unbelievable selection of roads with some of the most stunning scenery in the USA.

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The 2008 edition of the Dakar Rally, due to start in Lisbon tomorrow, has been been confirmed to be cancelled. Scrutineering activities were halted in Lisbon at 10 AM local time, and Amaury Sport Organization, the rally organizer, issued a press release confirming this at 12 noon.
Here is the official pressrelease of the A.S.O.:

A.S.O. cancels the 2008 edition of the Dakar rally

After different exchanges with the French government - in particular the Ministry for Foreign Affairs - , and based on their firm recommendations, the organisers of the Dakar have taken the decision to cancel the 2008 edition of the rally, scheduled from the 5th to the 20th of January between Lisbon and Senegal’s capital.

Based on the current international political tension and the murder of four French tourists last 24th of December linked to a branch of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, but also and mainly the direct threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organisations, no other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken by A.S.O.

A.S.O.’s first responsibility is to guarantee the safety of all: that of the populations in the countries visited, of the amateur and professional competitors, of the technical assistance personnel, of the journalists, partners and rally collaborators. A.S.O. therefore reaffirms that the choice of security is not, has never been and will never be a subject of compromise at the heart of the Dakar rally.

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The way to Dakar triumph 2008 goes through a “sea of sand”, according to the rally director Etienne Lavigne at the official presentation of the 30th edition of the famous desert rally. It is dated from the 5th to the 20th January 2008. Starting point will be again Lisbon and finish in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Approximately 570 participants are going to participate. The Dakar 2008 has a total lengh of 9273 kilometers: 5736 kilometers of ratings mileage is on the program, about 1400 more than in the previous year.
The rally will start again in Portugal. From there the route leads through Spain, Markokko and Mauritania in Senegal. They are, according to the organizers, more traditional places from the long history of the rally snubbed.

Mitsubishi dominated the last years. And so the VW-factoryteam aims to kick Mitsubishi from the throne. Beside the two times World rally champion Carlos Sainz (Spain), the South African Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller (USA), three times German rally champion Dieter Depping with co-driver Timo Gottschalk are driving a VW factoryteam Touareg.

Mitsubishi also participate with four cars. Head of the team is the last years and nine-times Dakar-winner (six times on a motorcycle, three times with a car) Stephane Peterhansel and former Ski-Wordcup-winner Luc Alphand (both France), who won the 2006 edition.

To get the latest updates, videos and pictures visit our Rally Dakar 2008 thread at our forum.

Fun events, cool parties, luxury hotels and challenging racetracks: that’s the Torpedo Run! In 2007 the varied tour included several European countries and the highest pass roads of the Alps conquered by cars like Lamborghini Diablo SV, Ferrari F430, Porsche Turbo, Corvette Z06 and Mini Cooper S. Enjoy this short excellent vid, made of the video footage of the Torpedo Runners (special thanks to Andy, Martin and Sacha).

Next Torpedo Run will be held in September 2008, again starting in Germany and leading across several European countries. More information about the Torpedo Run can be found at www.torpedorun.com.

The Baja1000 is one of the thoughest and most hardcore rallies on the planet. It’s an off-road race that takes place on Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula. The event includes various types of vehicle classes such as small and large bore motorcycles, stock VW, production vehicles, buggies, trucks, and custom fabricated race vehicles. The course has remained relatively the same over the years with the majority of events being either a point to point race from Ensenada to La Paz, or a loop race starting and finishing in Ensenada. The name of the event is misleading as the mileage varies for the type of event (loop or point to point) and has represented kilometers in the past.

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One week after the finish of La Carrera Panamericana, we are able to present you now the official final results of La Carrera. Like we reported earlier, Pierre de Thoisy and Frederic Stoesser are the winner of the 20th edition of the ultimate Mexican race. Their total time was 3:48:14. Impressive to see that the Unlimited Class winners Kevin Jones and Mark Williams finished with a total time of 3:22:58!!! That means a nearly 28 minutes lead to the ‘classic’ Carrera drivers. Still tragic is the Team Habich case. They finished in the ‘Exhibition’ class with a total time of 3:35:52. Without their disqualification, that would have been the first place of La Carrera Panamericana.

The official final results of the 20th edition of La Carrera after the jump!

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One of the most succesful automotive events this year was the Londino, an invitation-only, transnational treasure hunt with automobiles between London and Portofino. Enough reason for us to catch up with Jens Trulsson, creative director for Londino and the Cartorialist, for an exclusive interview!

Where does your passion for cars come from?

I have always had it. Since I was a kid I’ve had this fascination for things that move and it evolved to being extremely passionate about cars. I can tell you that my father and brother are equally passionate so it runs in the family.

What car do you drive yourself?

I change cars more often than I change suits.

What is your favourite classic car?

It’s impossible to choose just one. I love the Porsche 2.7 RS but to exclude cars like the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder or the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato hurts so much that I just can’t have one favourite. Right now I am obsessed with the Porsche 964 RS N/GT.

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