:: GUMBALL 3000 BLOG ::

Team Dezastion - a combination of Dezer and Sebastian - made up of 30-year-old Gil Dezer, his friend Sebastian Tettamanti, father Michael Dezer and Henry Blume, is leaving for London on Tuesday to compete in an eccentric road rally that will circle the globe in eight days.

‘’The first day we have a 12-hour drive,'’ Tettamanti said. “And at every pit stop along the way there’s a party, so there’s going to be very little sleep going on.'’

Getting ready for the grueling rally has taken a year of planning. There have been hours of mapping routes on MapQuest and Google Earth, and checking and double checking lists.
The Gumball 3000 entry form reads that the rally is not a race, and that drivers are to obey the laws of the countries through which it runs. That being said, Gil Dezer is not used to coming in second place, and has a personal goal of being the first into the checkpoints each day.

‘’We’ve set up lawyers in every country in case we get arrested,'’ Dezer said, with a toothy grin.
Some of this year’s celebrity participants include Bam Margera of MTV’s Viva La Bam and Ryan Dunn of Jackass in Bam’s purple Lamborghini, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, supermodel Jodie Kidd, and freestyle motocrosser Carey Hart and his wife Pink.

The 40,000 or a little more than $71,000 entry fee covers everything except the car, fuel and speeding tickets.

‘’This whole thing is a bunch of spoiled millionaires bringing their fancy cars out to have a good time,'’ Gil Dezer said.

The Dezers’ rally vehicles, an ‘03 Porsche 911 Turbo to be driven by Gil Dezer, and a Porsche Cayenne for his father to carry the gear.

‘’We’re going to be representing Sunny Isles Beach and will display the Sunny Isles Beach logo on the cars,'’ Michael Dezer said.

Sunny Isles Beach Mayor Norman Edelcup is thrilled that people around the world will get to see Sunny Isles Beach as a place with hip, fun-loving people.

‘’Any way we can get our name around the world certainly helps to cement Sunny Isles Beach as a world-class destination,'’ Edelcup said.

The Dezer family is a fixture in Sunny Isles Beach. The family owns 27 acres of property in Sunny Isles Beach, and have partnered with the likes of Donald Trump and Jorge Perez, on six luxury high-rise condominiums and condo/hotels in the beachfront community.

Beyond their building projects, the Dezers are known for their world-class car collections.
A few of Gil’s more valuable cars include a 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago, a 2005 Bentley GT, a 1995 Dodge Viper, a 1985 DeLorean and 1957 Porsche 356. The elder Michael Dezer’s car, scooter and motorcycle collection is legendary.

The Gumball 3000 will be Gil Dezer’s first rally, but already he’s signed up for another that is a 24-hour run from New York to Miami (Players Run or BullRun).

Michael Dezer, who turned 65 on April 1, has more experience, and figures the Gumball will be a good finale to his passion for driving.

‘When I was 18 years old, I crossed over Europe on Vespa scooters over two months’ time, and then in 1987 I did the Great American Race from Los Angeles to New York,'’ Michael Dezer said. ‘When Gil told me he was going, I said, `Why don’t I get a car and go too?’

This entry was posted on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Generall, Gumball 3000 News, Gumball Teams, Gumball 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.