:: GUMBALL 3000 BLOG ::

Team 3 Ezer did the 2006 Gumball 3000 rally in a Porsche Boxter s (Team 100). On the famous M5board he wrote a really nice story about the European leg. Read the whole story below.

Hi Guys,

This was my take on the European leg. Some details have been omitted to protect the guilty as my wench sometimes reads this site and I don’t want to be castrated! Our account of the USA final party will also be up in a day or two:

Friday morning arrived nice and warm in Budapest. Mussy and I were picked up by his chauffeur in a brand new S class Merc. Arriving at the BA desk we asked for an upgrade, but the lady said that we were already assigned seats in cattle class, but she would try and move us further to the front.

Despite it being early morning, I decided that it was perfect time for a Bloody Mary in the lounge while Mussy learnt to play on my PSP: I had discovered the perfect method of rendering him quiet for a couple of hours. The flight was great; we had indeed been upgraded to Business Class, a bonus that was coloured only slightly by the brash whining voice of a septic tank (septic tank = yank = US citizen) going on about his property deals (time-share crap FFS!).

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Gumball Rally – days 7/8

The flight to SLC was LONG. We stopped in Sapporo, Japan and Anchorage, Alaska to refuel for a total flight time of 20 hours. Thankfully, all of the usually-drunk Euro dudes slept most of the way. Evidently, their one night in Bangkok was more than they could handle. We rolled into our SLC hotel and made a plan to hit one of the local parks while the rest of the Gumballers got dolled up to go see the Mission Impossible 3 premiere. Im not sure how anybody thought that this was going to be a real Hollywood premiere since it was opening night and we were in Salt Lake City after all. It was more like a bunch of foreigners in tuxedos going to see a movie at the local theatre, but I wasnt about to burst their bubble. We happened to see them as they returned to the hotel and my wife asked how it was. One of them said it was more like a screening than a premiere! to which she responded (in her amazing sarcasm): you mean Tom Cruise, Katie and their new baby werent there to greet you? He walked away in bitter disdain, as our snide comments haven’t been going over well with this crew.

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Check out the new outfit from Team Satan Racing! As you know the last leg on the 2006 Gumball 3000 rally are they driving with a 1969 Mercedes Pullman (owned by Hugh Hefner!). A minor detail of this car is the wing, awesome!

The guys from the crashed Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster (Nods & Dean) doing the US leg in this white Hummer H2. This must be a slow car for the Team, compared whit the Murci. If you look at the license plate, you see they using the same as the crashed Lambo, FLA5H. Very funny aswell. We hope that they reach safely the finish!

Team 99 with Simon Hewetson and Oliver Morley driving the Mercedes SLR McLaren was filming during the checkpoint in Belgrade. Before the arrival they doing some nice little burnout. Watch these two pretty good videos.

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Gumball Rally: Day 7
Saturday May 6, 2006
1:45 AM

The Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah

We left Bangkok first thing Friday morning for the airport after only two hours of sleep. We drove our cars out to the cargo planes then boarded our hired Icelandic Airlines flight from Bangkok to Salt Lake City via Sampora, Japan and Anchorage, Alaska. Something like twenty hours in transit. Yet we were flying back in time so we arrived here in Salt Lake on the same evening of the morning we left Bangkok.

Rooftop and I got to ride in the cockpit of the plane for a little while which was really cool and not something that happens anymore post 9/11… We were stoked.

When we landed in Salt Lake, Tony and I grabbed our boards and Rooftop grabbed his bike and we made our way over to the Layton Skatepark. We sessioned for a few hours and it felt good to ride. As the word got out that we were in town several hundred people made there way over to the park to check it out. Many were woken up by phone calls and pulled themselves out of bed to come down and see us. We stayed at the park until mid-night, riding and hanging with the locals.

My skating is progressing very slowly since I broke my ankle back in November but tonight was the best session I’ve had since I got hurt. I didn’t do much and I’m sure the locals were questioning my limited abilities but I felt good and it was the best skating I’ve done in six months. If anything I was encouraged by how I rode and felt out there. It’s coming along slowly, but it’s coming along.

Now we’re back in the hotel about to eat our first meal of the day before we shut her down for a 7:00AM departure for Las Vegas in our JEEP SRT-8.

Mike V.

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