This year's event began in Covent Garden in London, on the 4th of August, before heading across the channel into France and stopping in Chantilly. From there the rally descended into Italy, hitting Milan on Monday 6th August. The next day they moved onto Bologna where more than 100 cars were loaded into two 747s and shipped to Osaka in Japan, to be met by the drivers (who travelled on a third plane). The next stop in Japan was Kyoto, which they arrived in on Thursday 9th. The penultimate stop was Nanao before cruising into Tokyo, the final destination, on Saturday 11th August after some long days and, by the looks of the some of the pictures, some long nights of partying.
The cost? £60,000 (approx. US $76,000) for a car and two people, excluding fuel and return transportation of your car. The total raised for charity by the drivers before the start was £437,407 with the team raising the most (The Biggleswade Megabits with £105,655) having the honour of being the first car across the start line, in their Rolls Royce Wraith.
This is no cheap jaunt so, as you can imagine, there were some stunning, expensive and rare cars in use. (Special kudos goes to the owners of the Bugatti Chiron and the very rare and insanely valuable Ferrari 288 GTO, which travelled all the way from Australia.) Many of the drivers have a strong social media presence, so keeping up with progress was relatively easy in this day and age (where everything is broadcast as soon as it happens). Below are just some of the vehicles which took part.
POG
Why settle for one car when you can take several? As well as an Audi RS6 support vehicle, Pog had a McLaren 675LT, a Lamborghini Aventador and a Huracan Spyder, collected brand new and just in time for the tour. Exceptional graphics ensured that his cars wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else's. Pog also won the organiser's 'Fans Favourite' award.
Pic: Pog's Instagram
Team Demon
Then we have Team Demon in Dodge Demon Hennessey, outputting a frankly ridiculous 1,035bhp! Apparently this car's good for 0-60mph in under 2 seconds and a standing quarter mile in just over 9. That's not to say they didn't experience problems along the way, but that may have had something to do with the numerous burnouts and donuts! These guys picked up the 'Spirit of Gumball' award for their sterling effort.
Shmee150
Shmee is well known amongst internet-using car fans. He elected to start in his Mercedes GT R, but due to his late entrance onto the rally was unable to get his car on the plane to Japan. Making good use of his contacts, he was able to arrange to pick up another GT R once he landed, courtesy of Mercedes (albeit, without the RENNtech upgrades which his has been supplemented with).
Pics: Shmee150's Instagram
Like Shmee, Mr JWW was too late to submit the relevant paperwork and had to rely on collecting another car once he touched down in Japan. So he waved goodbye to the Porsche 911 GT3, which he left in Italy, and collected an Aston Martin DB11 Volante in Osaka. This afforded him the opportunity to mix up his popular YouTube videos with different cars whilst enjoying Japan with the roof down.
Pics: Mr JWW's Instagram
Shipping their Lamborghini Aventador in from the US for the rally's start in London, Team Salamone had arguably the most visually arresting entrant. The chrome wrap, finished off with purple highlights and neon lights, ensured that their's was an unmistakable sight.
Josh Cartu
Another Gumballer embracing the idea of wrapping his car was racing driver Josh Cartu, running a lovely Ferrari 812 Superfast with a reflective, glow in the dark, dragon theme (they were going to Japan, after-all).
That's just a handful of the cars. The full list included the following (often in multiple numbers):
- Alfa Romeo Disco Volante;
- Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
- Alfa Romeo Stelvio;
- Aston Martin DB11;
- Audi R8;
- Audi RS3;
- Audi RS6;
- Bentley Bentayga;
- Bentley Continental;
- BMW M5;
- BMW I8;
- BMW Z8;
- Bugatti Chiron;
- Delorean DMC-12;
- Dodge Charger;
- Dodge Challenger;
- Dodge Demon Hennessey;
- Ferrari 458;
- Ferrari 488;
- Ferrari 812 Superfast;
- Ferrari 288 GTO;
- Ferrari California;
- Ferrari F12;
- Ferrari F430;
- Ferrari GTC4 Lusso;
- Ford Raptor;
- KTM X-Box GT;
- Jeep Track Hawk;
- Lamborghini Aventador;
- Lamborghini Huracan;
- Lamborghini Murcielago;
- Lexus LC500;
- Lexus LFA;
- Mercedes 300SL (from 1954, but heavily modified);
- Mercedes C63S;
- Mercedes G500;
- Mercedes G500 4x4 Squared;
- Mercedes G63;
- Mercedes SLR;
- Mercedes SLS Black Series;
- Mercedes AMG GT;
- McLaren 675LT;
- McLaren 720s;
- McLaren P1;
- Nissan GT-R;
- Porsche 911 Carrera S;
- Porsche 911 Turbo S;
- Porsche 918;
- Porsche GT2 RS;
- Porsche GT3;
- Porsche Panamera;
- Range Rover SVR;
- Rolls Royce Dawn;
- Rolls Royce Ghost;
- Rolls Royce Phantom;
- Rolls Royce Wraith.
Everyone will have their own opinion on what makes a great Gumball car but, if nothing else, that's a very varied (and very expensive) line-up. Next year's rally has already been announced, running from Mykonos to Ibiza in June 2019. Time to start saving.
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