EVENT: Gumball 3000 Pt1: Shannonville

Here we go kiddies, car nerds all over the GTA (myself included) have been muttering quietly about this event for the past few weeks since the route was formalized. Gumball 3000 came through Canada this year bringing with it the cars, some glitz, and a lot of crowds!

The cars on the Gumball see a lot of road miles so a lot of them like this Murcielago SV were wrapped in carbon fiber looking vinyl, ironic considering the majority of this car actually IS carbon fiber…

Even filthy, this car looks like a superhero’s ride!

A lot of people were curious how this roof rack system mounts up to the Lambo… here’s a detail shot…

Certainly however, there was one car everyone really came in the hopes of seeing – the Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The crowds weren’t disappointed! This car had a mobscene following it everywhere during the day and an absolute riot at night downtown.

I don’t think many of these cars will see quite this much use or abuse!

The interior of this car is just shockingly beautiful. It’s no wonder this thing weighs so much – it’s funny when other cars out there boast about being faster then a Veyron (SCC, looking at you) – there’s plenty of cars out there faster than this now but none of them come close to this level of stunning interior. This is more akin to a fine watch than a car.

16 cylinders… two banks of 8… W16 configuration… 8.0 liters… 4 turbochargers… 64 valves (sixty four!!!)…

1001 horsepower…

I didn’t think I’d be quite as impressed by this car in person as I was, it’s a stunning creation and really one of those exercises that was clearly undertaken as an engineering challenge more than just ‘a car’.

I still think the Morgan Aero is a weird car. I don’t care what you say…

Eventually some of the Gumballers decided to head out on track and drive without the risk of the local fuzz getting involved!

Now that’s a broad cross-section of competitors…

Care to wager what this is the interior to? Bet you can’t guess (unless you were there)

Plenty of MacLaren SLR’s were on hand, in fact they became a bit pedestrian after a while there was so many.

People started to turn their attention elsewhere…

Like the absolutely ridiculous Dodge Challenger sponsored by Asanti and Lexani wheels

I know it’s not a super-exotic but I have a soft-spot for GT3s…

It was pretty cool to hear the SLR’s driven in anger, and see the airbrake come out! These things always remind me of a world-war two fighter when you hear their engines. The throaty German motor accompanied by the supercharger whump is pretty cool!

While I imagine it’s one of the best types of cars for this type of ‘rally’ the Maser didn’t look quite as happy on track as some of it’s fellow competitors.

Still worse was this E350, but at least the driver was charging hard and turning some decent laps!

The SLR driver(s) were actually turning in decent laps too. You could tell the tires were having a tough time on the cold day, but still…

Hey at least it’s an interesting and unique wrap rather than the boring old chrome we usually see.

Mmmmm…

I spoke briefly with Brett the Veyron driver and asked if he was taking it on the track. He said the track was too short and the car is too heavy, it wouldn’t really be able to do much or have much fun. I guess coming from an owner, that’s as honest as you can get…

Beautiful white GT3

Aston Martin turning in a few laps. Astons look weirdly alien on a track, they’re much more at home on a highway or a downtown street, really not a track car to me. Stunning though…

Now this is something interesting! The Monster Energy Buckshot Racing “truck” (?) was something to see not only parked but turning a few squirrly laps on the track!

This thing must be an absolute twin turbo nightmare on the rough stuff. I can’t imagine it’s the best roadtrip vehicle! Then again, with that interior I mentioned earlier, maybe all the rally bits help!

Someone put it best “It looks like a Lotus on steroids”.

Even other Gumballers were awed by the wide cross section of cars!

This must be one of the first rollers to visit Shannonville, surely. It would’ve been great fun to see it out on track!

But alas it wasn’t to be, mostly the usual suspects.

Proving it’s perhaps not the best long-distance cruiser, the Morgan Aero popped out a rear window from being overstuffed I presume…

A broad cross section of the cars at the event… although the GTR wasn’t a competitor.

Now this is something truly unique – a stretch Volvo limo! If you’re going to bomb around on this cross country tour, this is at least one of the more comfortable ways I imagine!