Gumball3000 talk

Alex Roy has a few words to say about the current state of Gumball 3K, and I'll take his word over just about anybody's when it comes to CC rallies.
http://jalopnik.com/i-ve-done-5-gumballs-many-dicks-but-some-great-people-1774335084

There was a time when Gumball was great, but it's become a cesspool of rich, entitled chumps who played too much Gran Turismo as kids and think the world (read: public roads) is their racetrack.

 

Gumball was the greatest thing in the world in 2003 when I was 17 full of hormones looking at rich people partying hard in exotic countries driving exotic cars not giving a single damn about anything. A few years go by, rich people have grown in numbers and their cars have gotten a lot faster, their partying a lot more expensive. There is no way an international rally like this should be legal (yet it sort of is in some places). What is the point of all this oppulence and bling? Why must the cars be so in your face? It's so artificial, so, i don't know hot to express this... Jersey Shore-y???

People present it like a pilgrimage when it's nothing more than doing dangerous and illegal stuff on public roads in TRAFFIC! Before anyone comments on my hypocrisy, yes, I do go over the speed limit every now and then, but not 100kph and more over it. Not with 50 of my mates in 300 kmh rockets passing regular road users on the left AND right at the same time for ****s and giggles because we can afford it and to pay the fines. Not on roads that I have never driven in countries I have never been to, where you may very well afford an F12 but those sudden road imperfections in less developed countries like Romania will be this year will throw your F12 in the ditch or possibly oncomming traffic faster than you can yell "Disco wrap, yo!"

Not to mention there is a sudden urge for competition when you see yourself surrounded by so many other fast cars. You just have to see how well you 650LT pulls on that RS6, don't you? Can my 488 pass that Aventador here? Idunoo, but I'm gonna find out.

No matter how you look at it, this is a recipe for disaster and a show of bad taste.

If it was all about the cars, they would trailer or drive their cars to 10-12 tracks in Europe legally and do their own little championship to determine a winner in a safe environment, but that's no fun, is it. Too boring. Look at Roy's analysis of the German Officials request to drive under 130. It's like they are asking him to push the car.

There's many positive things to say about it too, but I think the negatives far outweigh the positives to keep it going. But the world is too nice a place to ruin the fun of rich people. Wouldn't want Shmee, CT staff or the Hoff not to have a Gumball youtube/TV shows.

 

Well , actually it is not a race. All they want to do is to drive through Europe with many other supercars to have FUN . Who cares who "win" the Gumball rally ? It doesn't matter. If it is a race it will be madness and they will be driving only super fast cars but sometimes they haven't got 300 horse power. They try to stick with some groups and it is epic when the only cars you see around you are for example Ferrari or Lamborghini. Overtaking and doing mini "drag races" is not illegal and they do it safely. They do similar trips to Top Gear but with more cars. And don't even try to deny me because I'm not going to reply to this thread anymore. Have a good day and chill out

 

Everyone has made really good points. To be completely up front, I haven't "kept up" with Gumball. I just occasionally pulled up YT videos and enjoyed the hell out of them. So this detail about a bunch of the people doing Gumball being schmucks is the first I am hearing of it. Thanks for bringing to my attention.

Anyways, who better to pay attention to than someone who has done 5 Gumballs? Chazz Ranger linked it, but I'm going to quote Alex Roy which was linked above:

 

Well, people were overtaking on both sides of the road at high speed in that video, which is......you know.......kinda dangerous on public highways.

 

Indeed. I hate that. Clowns here in Alabama do it rather often. These drivers piss me off. Most drive at least 10 MPH over the speed limit (70) on the freeway. I will be in the middle lane doing the speed limit, and get passed by a car in the right lane, and a car in the left lane at the same time. And then of course, some clowns will pass cars on the left or right shoulder! They don't drive very aggressive, but they barely pay attention.

 

"If I ran a supercar company, I'd pay good money not to have my product seen in the hands of the Gumball *****s." -- Chris Harris.

http://jalopnik.com/chris-harris-vs-bun-b-is-2016s-hottest-twitter-feud-1774292810

 

Nice cars, too many retarded drivers. Don't really care what others think about my opinion.

 

First day aaaaand first accident... Nono, totally cool to lose control of a Gumpert on national roads. I'm sure he wasn't pushing at all to compete with others before totalling it. Not dangerous freaks at all.

I do driving like that on any Saturday and am called a public danger. They do it by the hundreds and it's a fun, nice environment with great people...

 

Nobody ever said sth like that.

 

Another Gumball 3000 candidate....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/new...15000-mclaren-just-10-minutes-after-taking-d/

 

Yeah and all these jerks like Jean Alesi and David Coulthard...

 

" It is this sort of attitude that will be the real reason the rebooted topgear is going to fail."

Well, I see you don't know anything so don't comment. The gumball driver who was behind Gumpert said "The gumpert had semi slick tires the road surface was greasy, when the back stepped out he tried to correct it but it was to late and then the brakes locked up, Apollos do not have traction control but he was doing the speed limit I CAN GUARANTEE "
Semi slick tyres NOT designed for use in the wet so it could happen to anyone , even the best drivers , and no , he wasn't pushing with this kind of set in rain.

 

but I thought it was legal to overtake on both sides in the US?

not sure on the rules for freeway driving with regards lane usage, but over here (UK) if you're not overtaking then you stay in the left lane (RHD), otherwise you're a middle lane hog (or drive a BMW)

 

It might have been a good idea to use normal road tyres.

 

Looks like they trust gumpert with the tires choice. The Apollo always comes with semi slicks (pilot sport cup 2).

 

I've driven on semi-slicks in the rain. My friend drove his Elise on semi-slicks in a huge storm 2.5 hours to a track day. No issues at all as long as you drive like you are on semi-slicks in the rain.

Also to whoever posted that semi-slicks aren't designed for the wet...that's not true at all. They just have very little tread to disperse standing water. They are fine in the wet if you take account for the fact that your tires have less grip and won't hear up to optimal operating temps.

 

I am rather surprised that semi slicks can be used on public roads. I had always assumed that they were track tyres.

 

What do you qualify as a semi slick? In the US they call them R-comps or race competition tires. Most of them are approved for public road driving, but come with warnings about driving in heavy rain where standing water is present. Pilot Sport Cup 2's are a semi-slick to me and ship with a lot of road cars these days.

 

I watched Shmees video yesterday and it was fairly enjoyable (I really only watched it because they set off from Dublin), liked seeing all the cars and so on. It seems it's a big charity earner which is good. If you're collecting for charity in Ireland you can get away with a lot. It doesn't look like a race though, more a load of rich kids showing off their fancy cars.

I watched some other videos of the people driving the cars and instantly hated them, there's a video of them driving the batmobile at mondello (Ireland's race track). Most of them seemed to be in their early 20s (maybe it was just that age bracket that do the social media side), doing that fake humility, money dripping off everything they own.

I wouldn't judge them too harshly though, these people live in a bubble and are oblivious to the real world. Any of us would probably be exactly the same if we were in their position.

What really got under my skin though, why do rich people say "guys" so much? I don't know why it annoys me to no end.