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Blog: Gumball - A Grid’s Eye View

ERS Gumball Rally

Jonny Smith shares his thoughts ahead of the start of the Gumball 3000 Rally

Tomorrow I start out with specialist motor insurer ERS on my first ever Gumball, an event whose reputation most certainly proceeds it.

Almost in its 20th year, the glamourous road trip and music event fusion never follows the same path.

It starts and ends in a different country every year; 2017 kicks off in Latvia and winds up in Greece - 3,000 miles in total, with a hotel bed waiting for us at the end of every day.

It’s not a race, it’s more of a moving circus where organiser and founder Max Cooper urges you not to rush through the experience.

Jonny Smith
By Jonny Smith on behalf of Team ERS

Flamboyant
Naturally, most entrants are travelling in pretty flamboyant vehicles, favouring the exotic machinery of the supercar, hypercar and GT variety.

In other words, no Vauxhall Insignias.

Although if said Insignia was disguised as a giant porcupine or Stetson, then Max’s artistic side would probably welcome you with open arms.

Half of the entrants every year are – like me – freshers. Gumball Virgins.

The other half are those who’ve previously taken part and want another fix of the celeb-rubbing car-based chaos.

I hear David Hasselhoff has attended more Gumballs than any other famous (infamous?) person. I met him once during the unveiling of a Jaguar XJ. Nice bloke.

Stars
Whilst there will be a number of recognisable faces assembling the Gumball troupe, the true stars are the cars.

A scroll down this year’s 134-strong grid list quickly reveals a fruity combination of luxury and lightning fast.

At the last count I spied 15 Porsche 911s of varying spec, many of which were GT3s or Turbo cabriolets.

The Rolls Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe? Five of them appear on the grid. You can buy one today for a cool £367,000.

Unusual
That said, things start getting unusual very quickly. Someone is entering the event in a brand-new lorry – a Mercedes Benz Actros – the kind of truck that delivers stuff to Tescos or Argos. The kind of truck you can live in.

Furthermore, a pair of Germans appear to have bought a genuine ex-Miami Police Dodge Charger and will be serving/protecting as they see fit around Ceelo Green, Afro Jack and Major Lazer.

Couple that with a hybrid hypercar Porsche 918 Spyder – all £900,000 of it – and you get the idea of how the convoys may shape up this year.

In contrast, some competitors keep their steed a secret so that they can rock up on the day and bask in the flurry of cameraphones.

Max Cooper does exactly that; as well as organising it he still drives the event every year.

Luck
Luckily for team ERS there isn’t a rule that the car has to be new. In fact, I prefer to see stuff that’s out of warranty lining up for the long-distance trek. It all adds to the challenge.

Lamborghinis and Ferraris aplenty (the Huracan Spider seems to be 2017’s favourite), it is great to read about uncompromising stallions like the Ferrari 599 GTO and Mercedes McLaren SLR.

But what am I looking forward to most?

Seeing the expressions on locals’ faces as a vinyl-wrapped multi-million motorcade invades their village/town/city. It would also be cool if our F430 holds onto its clutch for the whole duration.

I’m not sure how easy it is to purchase replacement Ferrari parts in Albania.

Video
If you want to follow our escapes over the next week then get along to gumball.ers.com for a raft of exclusive video content and competitions, as well as change to trade prestige motoring stories with me and my ERS co-driver Alex Hardy on Twitter @ERSmotor, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Johnny Smith has an endless passion for all things motor. He’s an established motoring journalist who regularly appears in print and on television, and is driving the Gumball rally with specialist motor insurer ERS.

Catch up on the rest of the series 

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