21:11:16 / 9:11:16 p.m. (G.M.T.)

The unofficial Top 5 arrival order at the Chateau Beloeil Checkpoint in France:

#1 – Team Polizei

#2 – Purple Honda NSX – Car #011

#3 – Silver Porsche Carrera (Unknown Car #)

#4 – Nick Morley - Carrera RUF Turbo – Car #096

#5 – Ant&Pete – Car #097

Thanks to the reader who submitted this gallery of the start of the Gumball 3000 in London. 294 photos available @ http://viliondzas.fotopic.net/c941764.html

Enjoy!

Team Polizei is 22 miles from the Chateau Beloeil Checkpoint. They were just pulled over for doing 110mph in a 60 zone. Two miles behind them, the black SLR driven by Oliver Morley was pulled over again for speeding. Night has fallen over the pack and there are SEVERAL Police helicopters in the air as well as many ground units along the different roadways leaving France.

Photos will come soon, but the event has kicked off from London onto their first checkpoint in France… here’s a few quick items of interest to note from the start of the race.

Update:

Again, this is just a quick bit of news we’ve received from the other side of the pond. Photos and will follow at a later time. For now, we’ve found a video of the starting grid @
http://padeath.cozywebhost.com/gumball3000_2006_starting_grid.wmv.

If this link is slow, leave us a comment and we’ll mirror the video on our server.

15:02 / 3:02p.m. (G.M.T.)

London Time: 4:02p.m.

Team Polizei, this year in a highly modified Bentley Continental GT with much of the same equipment as the Polizei M5, has taken up position #5 at the start of the 2006 Gumball3000. Alex Roy and Michael Ross, the two Team Polizei drivers for this year’s event, are sitting on the Formula 1 style grid behind such celebrities as Bam Margera and Tony Hawk who are in a purple Lamborghini Gallardo. The rally is set to begin at 4:30p.m. local time.

Team Polizei is proud to announce an all-new lineup for 2006. Team Captain and Lead Driver Alexander Roy will be joined by 5-Time Gumball Veteran and Master Driver Michael Ross.

Michael Ross, one of the most respected drivers in Extreme Motorsport, has finished in the Top 10 on every Gumball since 2001, driving a BMW Z8 and a Bentley Continental GT. Ross will be the most veteran Gumballer on the 2006 Rally, and it is with great honor that Team Polizei is adding him to our historic list of master pilots.

In honor of Ross’s monumental driving skill and experience, Alex Roy will relinquish the pilot’s seat for no less than 50% of the driving in order to maximize the team’s use of an all-new suite of highly complex navigation and counter-law enforcement equipment.

Team Polizei, stuck with a broken fuel pump on the legendary Polizei M5, will be driving an all new Polizei car ’round the world on the 2006 Gumball 3000.

Michael Ross was kind enough to offer his 627hp Bentley Continental GT for this year’s Gumball, and in the last 3 days Team Polizei has retrofitted ALL of our gear from the Polizei M5, PLUS several huge upgrades:

3 Garmin GPS Systems, a Custom Intel Navigation Server, a Broadband International Communications System, Live Audio/ Video to http://live.gumball3000.com and a Top Secret & Experimental Counter-Law Enforcement Suite to be revealed at the end of the Gumball!

Drifting sensation, Ken Gushi, returns to the 2006 season with an all new Toyo Tires® Ford Mustang GT drift car. Gushi rocked the drifting world last season, scoring a historic first-ever win with a Ford Mustang GT during the third round of the Formula D Championship in Houston, Texas. Gushi ultimately finished third in the 2005 Need for Speed Formula D Championship. This effort also confirmed Toyo Tires’ commitment to the exciting sport of Drifting.
Read the rest of this entry »

Toyo Tires® announces the company has signed to be the “Official Tire” of “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.” From the producer of the worldwide blockbuster hits The Fast and The Furious and its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious, comes the latest installment of the adrenaline-inducing series built on speed — TheFast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. Set in the sexy and colorful underground world of Japanese drift racing, the newest and fastest customized rides go head-to-head on some of the most perilous courses in the world.
Read the rest of this entry »

Vienna - The state-of-the-art full hybrid system, whose components are being co-developed by General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler and the BMW Group for production beginning next year, represents a major automotive industry milestone due to the unprecedented fully integrated combination of electric motors with a fixed-gear transmission.

As a result of its low- and high-speed electric continuously variable transmission (ECVT) modes, the system is commonly referred to as the 2-mode hybrid. However, the sophisticated fuel-saving system also incorporates four fixed gear ratios for high efficiency and power-handling capabilities in a broad variety of vehicle applications. During the two ECVT modes and four fixed gear operations, the hybrid system can use the electric motors for boosting and regenerative braking. Read the rest of this entry »

Click To View Larger Image

Story and Photos by Dubspeed Driven Contributor, J.F. Musial.

In recent years, the Gumball 3000 has sparked a renewed enthusiasm for road rallys, that were originally made famous through the big screen in such films as The Gumball Rally in 1976 and The Cannonball Run in 1981. In recent years, the Gumball 3000 has sparked a whole new generation of road rally enthusiasts. The annual event has continued to be a showcase of exotic and unique cars driven by celebrities and passionate drivers alike. These are the type of people who wish to push themselves and their cars to the absolute limit. Thanks to the internet, I have been able to keep track of the event since the year 2000. Over the past six years, it has been incredible to see just how popular and well known the Gumball has become. Each year it is more unique and extravagant than the previous thanks to the diverse participants who spend an enormous amount of money just to attend. When I think of the rally though, I always think of the veterans who have shaped the event into what it is today.

Read the rest of this entry »

Braselton, Ga. - Twenty-five lead changes, 16 cars, 11 teams, five world-class manufacturers and 12 hours make for thrilling racing. It gets even better over the course of a 10-race schedule. That’s what awaits fans of the American Le Mans Series during the next six months of competition in the Series’ GT2 class.

Read the rest of this entry »