The Gumball 3000 celebrations kicked off in Edinburgh on Saturday 10th June with 100 Gumballers and supercars lined up on George Street ahead of a nine-day European road trip.
The Gumball rally was born in 1999 and the brainchild of Maximillion Cooper (aka Mr Gumball).
It is named after The Gumball Rally film in 1976 and is a 3,000 mile rally over nine days. It follows a different route every year.
Anyone who has seen the legendary film The Cannonball Run starring Burt Reynolds will recognise the comparison.
This year the road trip is going via London, Amsterdam, Verbier, Venice, Budapest and finishing in Porto Montenegro.
Edinburgh was chosen for the launch this year for the first time in its 24 year history. I remember it passing through in 2016 and it was bedlam (in a good way!). Edinburgh City Council clearly thought otherwise and were somewhat obstructive, citing public safety concerns for this year’s event.
Nevertheless, the organisers were able to cut through it and were granted permission to host the event.
The supercars took centre stage on George Street, with drivers being directed in throughout the day by organisers for fans to view.
It was packed with spectators of all ages enjoying the fine weather and spectacle.
There was a side-show on adjacent streets with wannabe Gumballers showing off their sports cars, along with participants who had parked nearby. Traffic wardens slapped a few £30 tickets on these cars, many of which were on foreign plates so they are unenforceable.
Edinburgh Castle hosted an exclusive welcome party for Gumballers and VIPs on Saturday night. Team Texas Express led by Matt Hagen of Leeward Capital Management from Dallas, Texas with their Rolls Royce Ghost won the pole position auction by bidding £100,000 for charity.
I understand that entry fees for each team start at £60,000, although I cannot confirm this.
The Edinburgh Reporter have collated some great interviews and photos of the two day event. I took over 150 photos and a few videos!
Gumball 3000 Day 2 – Flag Drop
Sunday was the start of the rally and flag drop, with a DJ warming the crowds up from 10am.
The flag dropped at about 11am and heralded the start of 100 supercars streaming through for the next two hours.
The highlight for me was seeing two Bugatti Chiron supercars worth over £3m each coming through to the grid. I have never seen so many Ferraris and Lamborghinis. They were ten a penny.
I saw one or two McLarens. This McLaren 765Lt V8 4 litre twin turbo has 755bhp, does 0 – 60mph in 2.8 seconds with a top speed of 205mph. They cost between £280,000 – £300,000.
It’s easy to dismiss this as a rich playboy’s event. That may be true, but the one thing that stood out for me was that it was all about people enjoying themselves and raising millions for charity.
It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Edinburgh as a premier venue for Gumball 3000 to host an epic charity fundraising event.
This will probably be the last time we will ever see Edinburgh hosting it as a launch venue. Edinburgh City Council hate cars and will spin this successful event and the lack of complaints about reduced parking bays as a reason to pedestrianise George Street.
It was a great success enjoyed by everyone apart from the minority of obsessed eco-zealots and fun sponges who want everyone walking and wheeling everywhere.
Have you seen the Gumball 3000? What do you think of it?
Excellent review Scott, looks like it was a top weekend. Be a shame if it doesn’t come back.
Excellent great to see the streets crowded, sadly that will likely be it as the joyless dullards in the council will stop it if they can