Say “goodbye” to your next two hours and seven minutes.
This film covers the full 1973 F1 Nurburgring Nordschleife race, its raw footage without any commentary and allows you to listen to the roar of the cars and the sound of the chopper blades over the din of the crowds.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to take you from the genesis of the endurance road trip to the modern international road rally. Each day we will share a bite sized history lesson about the development of this motorsport. We hope that you’ll join us for this absolutely fascinating ride.
This is post 1/5 covering our participation in the 2012 Dustball Rally.
This spring we discussed the history of rallying. Starting with the legendary Cannonball Baker we covered a variety of topics from the REAL Cannonball Run to how a failed F1 bid started an open road renaissance. From May to July we saw:
These rallies gave us mouth watering photos, videos, and cars to debate. We asked, “What would be YOUR ideal rally car?” We had a great time covering those trips but it was not enough. We needed to experience this ourselves.
We Were Meant to Really
Sports Car Hunter is based in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas – where the sunny weather is a sports car heaven. With that said, fast cars really aren’t anything special in this area of the United States. On an afternoon in fall 2011, I spotted an Aston Martin Vantage Roadster. A great car? Yes. Super special? No. This Aston was different though. It looked mean. Why? It had been on the Dustball Rally.
A few months later, in the winter of 2012, buddies stopped by to watch Love the Beast over pizza and beer. Standard stuff really. Before we started the film I put on some classic Bullrun montages, the latest GoldRush installment, a few Gumball 3000 books… All the NORMAL things on a car lovers shelf, right?
All of a sudden one of the guys yelled out, “HOLY SHIT, THAT’S MY 7-SERIES!!” Sure enough, when we slowed the video down, the BMW that rally extraordinaire Richard Rawlings drove in the Bullrun was indeed the car in question. Rawlings must have sold the car post-rally and, low and behold, it fell into our hands.
Some crazy times were had in that Bavarian beast! It all made sense to us now - rallying was in that BMW’s DNA and the bug had been passed on to all of us. Our next seven months would be spent planning how to make rallying (already absurd) crazier (by adding us).
Our Right to Bear Arms
Within a few weeks our entry forms were submitted to the 2012 Dustball Rally from El Paso, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana. It was in our back yard for crying out loud! It was all we talked about.
In time our group would hit a few roadblocks and fell to three cars. Nevertheless we had a great alliance of automotive power: an Aston Martin, a BMW, and a Lexus. With our driving team three deep, we had to weaponize it appropriately. We would pick up a number of expensive and evasive countermeasures – but those sorts of items are standard to any aggressive driver. For the 2012 Dustball, we had to think outside the box.
When we realized the rally ended in New Orleans, we pictured Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras beads flying everywhere. Team Sports Car Hunter immediately ordered 3,600 Mardi Gras necklaces. Yes, you read that right, three thousand and six hundred.
We bought Blue, Red, and Silver for the United Kingdom’s Aston Martin – Black, Red, and Gold for the German’s BMW – Red and Silver for the Japanese’s Lexus. These had no purpose other than our faith that the rally would be more fun with 3,600 necklaces at our disposal.
Next we placed an order for 200 koozies. Given that our teams consisted of former fraternity men this was a no brainer. No event should EVER fall victim to warm beer. Our college studies taught us that koozies + cold beer = happy ralliers. We would not disappoint.
The third item in our arsenal would be 250 SportsCarHunter stickers. Why? Because rallies offer a unique opportunity for brands to expand their influence across thousands of miles. We love posting ridiculously fast cars on social media and want to do more of it. The rally was a great opportunity to find a few more speed freaks! Their cars would join our cause.
Finally, the coup de grace of our war chest – Monopoly Money. Now this may not make sense to many people NOT on the 2012 Rally. That’s fine and I promise, you WILL understand if you read this post and our subsequent Rally Recap articles later this week.
Speed Past Go and Collect $200
With the economy being ruined by Toyota Prius’, America is in dire need for a hero. I nominate Rich Uncle Pennybags. Why? Because Rich Uncle Pennybags is too rich to care about all those bad things on the news.
We all need a Rich Uncle Pennybags to take us by the hand and say, “Stop caring about the world falling apart, relax a little, here’s $200 for passing GO – have a nice day!”
In the crazy world of rallying this makes COMPLETE sense. Drivers are going too fast to care. A snake of eight sports cars cuts off a minivan on two lane road? Sorry, we’re in a rally. Our bad. Going the wrong way on a one way street? Sorry, we’re in a rally. Our bad. Police blockade along your morning commute. Sorry, we’re in a rally. Our bad.
Without getting into too much detail – I went ahead and collected $1,000,000 worth of Monopoly Money over the course of seven months. That’s 60+ games worth, over 10,000 individual pieces of pastel paper. We had about 75 stacks off 200 bills each going into the rally. We were going to use it as big confetti every time we hit a 100 mph. It was an idea so silly that there was no way anyone could get mad at us for it.
Why did we get tens of thousands of mardi gras beads, koozies, stickers, and Monopoy Money? Why the hell not! We embraced the excess, simply because Dustball Rally.
Two Days Before El Paso
On Monday July 31st, 2012 we placed our rally vinyls in a 120+ degree garage. The #26 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster looked mean, taking a cue from the racing team with a Le Man’s snarl.
It was a miracle the #85 BMW Z4 3.0si Roadster even made it to Texas. It had just survived a five week-long, 3,000 mile, ordeal of engine rebuilds and deer mauling – literally hitting a deer on a Pennsylvania highway a week before the rally start.
Unfortunately our #25 Lexus had to back out at the last minute. No matter, we had two rally cars prepped and ready for action.
The next day our team, plus five other DFW cars, were driving 500 miles to the start line in El Paso.
Check in tomorrow for Post 2/5 - DIE FIENDEN PILOTEN and the night before the 2012 Dustball Rally!
Thank you for reading: Merging the Absurd (Rallying) with Us (Crazy) - Team SportsCar Hunter Joins a Rally #RallyPulse
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-Sports Car Hunter Ry
Over the next few weeks, we are going to take you from the genesis of the endurance road trip to the modern international road rally. Each day we will share a bite sized history lesson about the development of this motorsport. We hope that you’ll join us for this absolutely fascinating ride.
Yesterday we revealed the 1980’s U.S. Express – and the Ferrari that crossed the USA in 32 hours 7 minutes. The record had been set and the media, not to mention police, were eating it up. While a few new rallies occurred afterwards, the peak had seemingly passed. After 15 years of silent engines, a charismatic 26-year-old Englishman took up the rally reigns.
Maximillion Cooper, born in 1972, grew up in an artistic and musical household. At 18 he learned to race and quickly worked his way up from Formula Ford into a McLaren GT car. In short order he became involved with action-sports, music, academia, and fashion. By his mid-20’s he knew a broad range of eclectic and influential people, and wanted to leverage that in to something he was passionate about: the purchase of a racing team.
Cooper, like most 25-year-olds, was broke but inspirational and at 25, nearly pulled off a $100 million deal for a Formula 1 team. $100,000,000. F1 entails racing two cars about 17 races a year, all over the world and is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the FIA. Only the best of the best with the most financial backing can afford to participate. You would have had Team McLaren, Team Mercedes, Team BMW, Team Ferrari…and Team Gumball. Cooper relished in the fact that Gumball would have been extreme underdogs and outsiders in every way.
He leveraged his “Gumball” Formula 1 team to the final negotiating stages. His concept of creating the most rock ‘n’ roll racing team was all but complete when, at the last second, Lucky Strike cigarettes swooped in and made a better offer. Legends are made from audacity like that.
While the deal fizzled, Cooper realized his strength in bringing together well-connected friends and showing them a great time. In his one bedroom Notting Hill flat, with no computer and one telephone, he devised a 3,000 mile route all over Europe.
The first Gumball 3000 Rally occurred in April 1999. 55 cars, most with no more than two people to a car, had no idea what they were in for. The entrance fee was a minimal “…pound a mile.” 110 people participated.
Getting all of the personalities together in one room was challenging. Cooper managed to entice most participants by offering “party after party” when in reality it was more like party, drive, drive, get lost, drive, and break down. Even his E-Type Jaguar suffered such a delay! This was all deemed acceptable, as there were no prizes for being fastest or official timekeeping of any sort. Organizers emphasized that it was to be a road trip adventure and not a race.
The Gumball 3000 drew inspiration from movies such as Two-Lane Blacktop, Vanishing Point, Bullitt, and Le Mans. All true driving films putting man and machine on an equal platform. The term “Gumball” is actually traced back to 80’s pop culture and Andy Warhol’s suggestion that the decades culture was chewed up then spit right back out. Erwin “Cannonball” Baker, The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, and the U.S. Express all served as the building blocks for Gumball 3000 success.
The 1999 rally began in London, went on to Paris, stopped at Chateau d’Esclimont, lapped the Le Mans race circuit, visited the Ferrari Museum at Mas du Clos, stopped by the Monaco Grand Prix, and reached its furthest point in Rimini, Italy. The rally then spun around and sprinted to the Modena Ferrari Factory, Ambras Palace in Austria, lapped the Hockenheim Grand Prix circuit in Germany, and crossed the finish line on Park Lane in London. 3000 miles were accomplished in only six days.
It was a spectacle in all sense of the word; from the kick-off party at the Bluebird Club attended by London’s A-list, to the original British police car, borrowed from the British TV show The Bill, that was driven on the rally. Whimsical cars and super cars were piloted by friends from all walks of life.
The 1999 Gumball 3000 set a new standard of rally excellence. Thanks to these men and women bake dust rained throughout Europe for an entire week.
The rally opened the door for anyone who loves fast cars to see them close-up and personal. It gave us all the opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of some of the best examples of motoring design and engineering from around the world. The 1999 Gumball 3000 embodied the flair and panache of a rally driver’s pioneering spirit.
Tomorrow, we will discuss how the Gumball 3000 was never meant to be an annual event, and how the 2000 Gumball 3000 shattered those assumptions.
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