How many of you are old enough to remember a 1981 comedy movie starring Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, and Asian stalwarts like Jackie Chan and Michael Hui in some of the coolest cars at the time, racing across America?
If you are too young or if your memory's a little foggy, it was called "Cannonball Run". The interesting thing is that the movie was based on a real-life event with an absolute mouthful of a name - the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
This unofficial, "underground" New York City to Los Angeles race was loosely organised by Car & Driver Magazine in the 1970's to celebrate the US Interstate Highway system and to protest the ridiculous 55mph speed limit that was then imposed. The cars that took part then were almost just as motley as the group in the movie.
Today, the "Cannonball" concept has been revived and turned into a real-life Trans-Euro rally involving 120 cars, ranging from an ice-cream truck driven by a man dressed like an Operation Desert Storm combatant, to a 40-foot long Hummer limousine. Of course, supercars from the usual suspects like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche are well-represented, but they seem to take a backseat to some of the quirky cars and even quirkier participants.
British hosts, Ed Leigh and Caroline Fleck follow these cars and other things on four-wheels as they traverse Europe in the "Spirit of Gumball", which seems to mean different things to different people. But the consensus seems to be that having fun is integral to being part of the 3,000 mile spectacular. Getting piss-drunk the night before driving is optional (and ahem, is highly discouraged by AsiaOne Motoring).
The first episode shows the rally starting in London, with Formula One driver Jensen Button flagging off the race. Also spotted in the course of the episode were Jamiroquai, Darryl Hannah, and The Cuban Brothers, who incidentally performed here at last year's ZoukOut.
With 20 million worth of moving hardware on the highways of Europe, drivers from 23 nations, traffic police to evade, and some of most eccentric driver and vehicle combinations, who needs a scripted comedy?
Gumball 3000 screens on FX (Channel 87 on Starhub cable) every Thursday at 8pm
