Here is the video from the Horrific Macedonian head on collision between the Techart Porsche 911 Turbo and Volkswagen Golf.

[Source: YouTube.com]

It took more than 24 hours, a botched cover up and massive negative worldwide publicity for Maximillion Cooper to finally announce the cancellation of this years Gumball 3000 rally.

The delayed reaction, press release and ultimate cancellation of the Gumball 3000 has caused a lot of disbelief and anger among the victims families, locals, fans and drivers. This has resulted in a quick exit of all sponsors and created an anti-Gumball campaign.

Issued by Maximillion Cooper on behalf of The Gumball 3000 Rally
May 3, 2007, 22.30 CET

Following our earlier release reporting yesterday’s accident – As a sign of respect we have decided that this year’s Gumball 3000 Rally will not travel any further and will end in Bratislava this evening, May 3rd 2007.

As the organizers of the rally we feel that it should be stopped as a mark of respect to Vladimir Cepulyoski who died today after an accident involving one the participating drivers.

We are very saddened by what has happened and feel that it would be wrong to continue. On behalf of Gumball 3000, we once again extend our deepest sympathies to his family and we are doing everything we can for them.

This is the first time anything like this has happened in 9 years of traveling through over 40 countries with 1000’s of drivers and it is with deep regret that I make this announcement.

Maximillion Cooper

The 911 Porsche that crashed into the Volkswagen killing the driver and putting the passenger in critical condition was apparently the car of Nick Morley and Matthew McConville. As you can see by the banner I have included in this post, The Official Gumball 3000 website has shut down the forum and stopped answering all questions.

Thanks to some Instant Messaging the folks over at Jalopnik have given us Gumball 3000 followers an update on the unfortunate fatal crash over in Macedonia:

“everyone involved has been told to shut up so I’m going around them, calling authorities…they tried covering the shit up, they’ve had 24 hours to issue a press release…and nothing of the sort…they kept it from all other gumballers too”

Fleeing the scene and covering it up is going to prove to be a HUGE NEGATIVE blow for Maximillion and his beloved Gumball 3000 brand, not to mention Nick and Matthew of the Porsche. This is all going to create one hell of a firestorm over in Europe and most likely end the Gumball 3000 race on that continent for good.

At this time, the race organizers have yet to answer anyones phone call inquiries into this matter.

3pm UPDATE: More Background Info
Macedonian TV Station A1 said the drivers (Nick Morley and Matthew McConville) later climbed into another car, a BMW, and tried to leave the country. However organizers of the rally said the drivers returned to the scene 20 minutes later. The drivers of the Porsche 911 Turbo Techart allegedly got out of their crashed car and ran off, local police said.

The Techart Porsche 911 Turbo of Nick Morley and Matthew McConville hit an oncoming car, at a reported speed of more than 200km/h, after which, according to media reports, they tried to escape the country via the nearby border post.

4pm UPDATE: Co Pilot No Longer Following/Reporting Gumball 3000
After sleuthing around the net trying to find more information on the crash as well as the current situation, I came accross a site I had bookmarked and is NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
http://www.alk.com/gumball/gallery.asp

There is NO MENTION anywhere on the site about their involvement with THE GUMBALL 3000.

CoPilot Live GPS (by Alk Technologies) is the Official Navigation Sponsor of the Gumball 3000. Their link no longer displays any sort of coverage of the Gumball 3000. Here is a picture of Maximillion Cooper in front of the media board and XZIBIT being shown how to use the software.

4:30pm UPDATE: Gumball 3000 Press Statement

Team Polizei’s Alex Roy and Michael Ross withdraw from the rally and I fully agree that its the only appropriate thing to do after this unfortunate tragedy. Their recent post on Team Polizei’s Website states “In view of events of the past day, Alex Roy and Michael Ross of Team Polizei have withdrawn from the 2007 Gumball Rally. They are driving to Bratislava to thank the fans that have traveled from so far. They will make a further statement at 10.00GMT.”

Here is the Gumball 3000 Press Release more then 24 hours after the incident.

Gumball 3000 is very saddened to announce a road accident which occurred yesterday, May 2nd, involving a participating vehicle and a local vehicle in Macedonia. Exact details are still filtering through, but below are the facts as of midday May 3rd 2007 issued by the Macedonian authorities.

An adult Macedonian male aged 67 died in hospital from a heart attack following the incident where the two cars collided. The participants in the rally were held in custody last night with a preliminary court judgment expected today.

Organizers of the rally would like to express its deepest condolences to the family of the victim for this tragic accident.

Maximillion Cooper, founder of the Rally says: “It is with extreme sadness I have to make an announcement of this nature in the events nine year history.. The event is organized with each local authorities support and permission, and drivers are under strict stipulation by abide by the laws and road regulations of the country they are driving through. It is extremely sad for this unfortunate accident to have occurred. I am informed that the incident was reported immediately by the drivers. Both drivers are extremely traumatized by this occurrence.”

5:30pm UPDATE: Nicholas Morley and Matthew McConville Info
According to reports, Nicholas Morley, 30, and Matthew McConvile, 32, both British citizens, have been arrested in FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia) for a hit & run incident when their Techart Porsche 911 Turbo crashed into an elderly couple’s VW Golf, killing Vladimir Cepuljoski, 67 and seriously injuring his wife, Margarita Cepuljoski who remains hospitalized in critical condition. Apparently, the two Brits tried to escape by getting into another car but they were caught by FYROM police.

6:30pm Final UPDATE: Gumball 3000 CANCELLED

May 3, 2007: Aftermath
According to two sources familiar with the cross-Europe road rally, the car that picked up Nick Morley and Matthew McConville after the deadly hit-and-run incident was allegedly described as a Gumball BMW with Russian plates. Sources have speculated that it could be the #19 Russian BMW.

“An investigative judge of Struga Court ordered 30 days of temporary detention to the British citizen Nicholas Morley, Makfax’s correspondent reported. Morley has been detained for the purposes of the investigation into yesterday’s traffic accident that took place at Struga-Qafasan road, which left one Macedonian citizen dead. The victim’s wife, who has suffered heavy injuries in the accident, is in critical condition. The tragic traffic accident occurred on the Struga-Qafasan road near KMR Petrol station. The speeding Porsche, driven by the Briton, crossed over the center lane and crashed into Golf with Ohrid registration plates.”

It was also reported that the driver and passenger of the BMW with Russian license plates were released by Macedonian authorities after initially being taken into custody. As for the official charges against Morley they are for:

“heavy violation of traffic safety” and “failure to provide help to an injured person.”

May 4, 2007: 2nd Fatality
Margarita Chepunjoska, the wife of Vladimir, who died May 2nd, 2007, has passed away today in the Skopje Clinic Center.

May 4, 2007: Maximillion Cooper’s Interview with the BBC

Maximillian Cooper’s interview with the BBC: “60 kph…which is well within the speed limit…it would appear to be a genuine sort of accident where this elderly couple just pulled out in front of them.”

May 9, 2007: Aftermath Pictures of the Techart Porsche 911 Turbo, Volkswagen Golf

[Source: Gumball3000.com, Jalopnik.com, Wikipedia.com, Times.co.uk, GTspirit.com, Gumball3000blog.com, Gumball144.com/CMS, BBC.co.uk, Metro.co.uk]

It is with much sadness that I have to report that the 2007 Gumball 3000 has encountered its first fatality. A white Porsche crashed in Macedonia, near the city of Struga close to the Albanian border. Some locals were injured in the crash. The driver of the Red Volkswagen in the picture died on the way to the hospital and his wife is in intensive care, in critical condition suffering from broken ribs and fluid in her lungs.

This is extremely unfortunate for the Gumball 3000 as well as other ‘rallies’ of this type around the world. This accident will definitely serve as a precedent and example for putting more limitations and possibly shutting down or banning these annual events in some if not all countries.

[Source: GTspirit.com]

2007 Gumball 3000 in Calais

Team Polizei being pulled over by Belgian Police

VIP GUMBALL 2007 CARPARK WALKAROUND ULTIMA GTR, CARRERA GT

Shaky video, but still pretty cool, especially all the engine sounds.

Belgium interviews people getting tickets.

Orange Mercedes McLaren-SLR doing a doughnut in some dirt.

Metacafe opened their Gumball 3000 video channel a couple days ago. This channel is part of the partnership between Gumball 3000, Adidas and Metacafe. It enables the fans, drivers and Gumball 3000 crew to upload their videos and creations to Metacafe. Of course it’s not just another Youtube because by uploading videos to the channel at metacafe you can win Gumball 3000 prizes.

The first 50 entries every day score official Gumball 3000 wristbands. The overall top 3 videos win official Gumball 3000 merchandise and tickets to next year’s Gumball 3000 launch party!

[Source: GTspirit.com]

Here are the best videos I could find so far covering the 2007 Gumball 3000!!

Team Fuel just released their first video! Richie, Gerry and the Fuel Girls are on their way to Athens to get united again with their Mansory Bentley Continental GT. In the video Richie takes you to his Fuel store and shows you the Mansory Phantom and tells you about the rest of the cars, new girl Zara interviews Maximillion and a lot of random clips from the start:

To take the film coverage to a new level, Gumball 3000 Films hired a Helicopter Team called Air Gumball. Team Air Gumball will follow the rally from Istanbul to Berlin. Here is the trailer Team Air Gumball made for this years Gumball 3000 including a Maserati 3200 GT, two Porsche Turbo’s, a Porsche Carrera GT3 and a Porsche 997

[Source: Youtube.com, Metacafe.com, GTspirit.com]

Only 3 days into the Gumball 3000 and already a minor headache from guess who?!? It appears that when the Gumballer’s ripped through Germany, they found themselves warmly welcomed by the Auto-Nazi’s in Germany. The German police had setup a series of roadblocks complete with floodlights and helicopters then handed out legal documents informing the Gumballer’s that their race was illegal and impounded the cars overnight. I wonder if the Gumballer’s thought they were then destined for the AGA??

“The Germans basically agreed to allow us to race on their roads, and now appear to have rescinded on that agreement,” a frustrated Michael Ross explains. “We were due to be flown out with our vehicles to Istanbul today and continue the race there, but the police have impounded our cars and won’t release them. Apparently, they’re now trying to persuade the police in Istanbul to not allow us to race there either.”

Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t we end this childish game of ‘lets make the news’ by pissing on Maximillion Cooper’s Gumball 3000 guests? I guess this is simply Germany’s Police trying to re-assert themselves and remind the world of their oh so colorful past of being in charge and ‘trying’ to dominate the world. Just for this, I think we should all boycott Oktoberfest this year.

Apparently a free ten-police-cars-per-Gumballer escort down the autobahn to the airport was provided this morning to insure the racers made it out of Germany and onto Istanbul.

[Source: news.independent.co.uk, Jalopnik.com]

In celebration of tomorrow’s DAY 1 of the 2007 Gumball 3000 rally (ahem race), here is a video from April 30th, 2006 in London. These exotics are SICK, and I love how people have absolutely no problem painting them up with graphics and logos! (I can’t wait to do this to my exotic) I also want to re-iterate how SIMPLY AWESOME this race is and how I cant wait to have a Madwhips / Carzi sponsored car in the next ~3 years!

[Source: YouTube.com]

Great video of some Gumball 3000 exotics tearing up the tarmac.

Donuts – Awesome video clips here

Now, in its ninth year (1999-2007), the Gumball 3000 is by far the world’s largest, cult car rally created by Maximillion Cooper. With over 120 some cars and 240 some participants the Gumball 3000 appeals to the adventurer in all, regardless of status or wealth.

Forget the amazing race, that is extremely boring and lame, and as much as I love Formula 1, I keep partying so hard in Montreal every year, that I have slept through the last 3 years of race day. I more than owe it to myself to be part of the Gumball 3000 race within 3-5 years. That’s one of my top 5 goals in the next couple years to say the least.

Here is the 2007 Gumball 3000 Agenda you all have been asking for:

Saturday April 28, 2007
Registration Launch Party at the Trocadero, London. The street out front will be closed, the red carpet ready for the sickest cars on the planet accompanied by supermodels, rock stars and automotive crazies.

Sunday April 29, 2007
(1:00pm) Cars and drivers at Pall Mall for car display.
(4:00pm) From Pall Mall, London, the cars will drive to the Amsterdam checkpoint via Eurotunnel and Belgium. It is going to be Queens Day so there should be quite the Vegas style party happening. And like Vegas, what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam.

Monday April 30, 2007
Cars drive through the night to a secret airport in Frankfurt where all cars will be loaded into 2 Russian Antanov airplanes. After a 4 hour flight (and maybe some sleep) the crew lands on the Asian side of Istanbul and the cars are escorted to one of the most famous streets in the city; Bagdat Street. The teams will retire for the evening at Kempinski Ciragan Palace where they will party like the rock stars they all are at a themed James Bond Party!! Crazy Awesome!

Tuesday May 1, 2007
After shaking off (not stirred) last nights mild hangover the race continues to Athens via Thessolaniki checkpoint. Once in Athens, they will stay the night at the Hilton Hotel as well as party at a WHITE PARTY themed event on the top floor of the Hilton (I wonder if Paris is covering the bill in order to snag a quick and dirty advertising spot?) While the participants of the Gumball 3000 will be getting their party face on (not that they have taken it off since departure on April 28th), their wicked awesome cars will be posing for the masses at the Zappeion Area.

Wednesday May 2, 2007
Rise n shine early leave for Tirana in Albania! I can guarantee you at this point, some people will be begging themselves to take it easy for the rest of the trip, but I can also guarantee there is a fat chance of this happening. The party must go on.

Thursday May 3, 2007
Cars drive through 7 countries today: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and arriving at Bratislava Slovakia. Once arrived, the Gumballers will stay the night at the Raddisson SAS Hotel and there exotics on display at Hviezdoslavovo Square.

Friday May 4, 2007
Continuing the mayhem through the Eurospeed race circuit, the Gumball 3000 heads from Bratislava, to Prague (GERMAN AUTOBAHN TIME YAAAAAAAAAAAA) ending in Berlin. Here they will shack up at the sexy Regent Hotel and get ready for another psycho night out partying in Berlin.

Saturday May 5, 2007
Exhausted but not out partied, the Gumball 3000’s final day routes them through Holland, Belgium, France and back to Great Britain. Crossing into London via the Eurotunnel, the finish line at the Whitehall Place where a massive final party with a live music concert should finish off these party-goers for a couple days.

Bottom line, looking to the future I personally guarantee that you will be seeing a Madwhips.com and Carzi.com cars at one of these races in a few years to come. I think this would make an absolute awesome way for David to celebrate his 16th b-day. Looks like I have 3 years to make my mark, buy and modify some hot cars in order to rip it up with the automotive elite in the Gumball 3000!

I can’t begin to explain how much I look forward to taking part in the coolest automotive event of the year (not to mention giving these Olympic partyers a run for their money) as well as cover it live from a my view. I’m pretty sure I’ll be rocking a modified and trustworthy 911 Turbo.

[Source: gumball3000.com, eyecandymediapartners.com]