The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory - Alex Roy

Coco

Coco

Coco

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The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory

"How are we looking, over?" Roy asks.

"You're looking very fast and very nice," comes the voice from above. "All clear, boys, put the hammer down."

Maher pushes the car, passing even the gutsiest speeders at nearly double speed. The white line is a ticking blur, the overpasses are distant, then here, then gone, and Texas is just a flat fuzz in the rearview. Near Oklahoma City, they stop for the Chinese fire drill of ****, pump, and go, and now Roy takes the wheel again, gunning to fly. The GPS says that even with gas stops, they've crossed half the country at 93.6 mph.


Just seen this over on Pistonheads, thought it worthy of a thread over here especially as I know theres many fans of Mr Roy from his Gumball days.
Fantastic article, nice YouTube vids as well, I wonder what our record is for Lands-End to John'O'Groats... :)
 
He wrote a book about this - its called The Driver and available from Amazon. It is very clear from the book he is no author, in places its very badly written, but the story is absolutely fantastic and its well worth a read.

What a guy, and naturally, what a car.
 
That dear boy is a must read for me then. Although I've followed his Gumball shenanigans I always thought he was just building the 'Alex Roy' brand to make a few quid but it certainly looks like theres a real road-racing passion behind him.
 
tbh I don't really like how he comes across. But fair play, if I was as rich as him then I'd definetly be doing something like that. He has been using that car for years as well, must have mega miles on it.

I do remember another gumball one were they used the bentley, using the tram tracks as a shortcut to get through one city. I thought that was pretty funny.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
tbh I don't really like how he comes across. But fair play, if I was as rich as him then I'd definetly be doing something like that. He has been using that car for years as well, must have mega miles on it.

I do remember another gumball one were they used the bentley, using the tram tracks as a shortcut to get through one city. I thought that was pretty funny.
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I wouldn't say he is rich, in the book he talks about not being able to afford to do a race. I would say he is well off, but not rich like some of the other gumballers.
 
Love the Gumball vids, was there a docu on eithe 08/09? The last I remember was with Tony Hawk in 2006? 2007 got cut short because of the accident iirc?

Hopefully there will be a good docu on the 2010 event, it makes great watching imo.
 
I used to really enjoy the Gumball & like many would have loved to have entered an event for the driving adventures & mad parties. To be honest it now looks like its full of idiots who clearly drive beyond their capabilities.

With the article I posted above its clear that Alex Roy had spent a great deal of time planning his attempt at the Cannonball Run record & carried it out at speed in a safe manor. Well, as safe as you can when averaging almost 100mph over 30 hours!
 
Ooh, that looks likes it's worth a read, thanks for that. 70% of me enjoys watching the videos, the other 30% gets a bit bitter and twisted. I don't have any problem with what they get up to and on the whole the response is pretty positive. My brother posted an onboard video of a Evo Triangle run as a response to claimed times, the feedback couldn't have been less favourable if he had posted a video of Cameron hammering a puppy to death, video had been "passed to the police" etc...

I'm just not sure how they quite get away with it and why it's generally accepted as ok to do what they do because an extended high speed hoon is given a title or am I missing something?

Housey said:
I think Kenworthy would be more interesting, he makes Roy and everyone else look like they were parked.
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He doesn't seem to hang around.
 
Coco said:
I used to really enjoy the Gumball & like many would have loved to have entered an event for the driving adventures & mad parties. To be honest it now looks like its full of idiots who clearly drive beyond their capabilities.

With the article I posted above its clear that Alex Roy had spent a great deal of time planning his attempt at the Cannonball Run record & carried it out at speed in a safe manor. Well, as safe as you can when averaging almost 100mph over 30 hours!
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Exactly how I feel about it too, I used to think it was funny watching the drivers when I was younger but now I just realise how cretinous they really are. Hopefully the event will die out soon.
 
.Sean said:
How do these people manage to avoid going to jail? I would love to do something like this. :(
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Read the article, explains how a mass amount of data was collected and all the equipment used to help them spot the police etc and avoid it.
 
Phate said:
Read the article, explains how a mass amount of data was collected and all the equipment used to help them spot the police etc and avoid it.
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Yeah I read that, but what about Gumball participants? Surely a bunch of them get pulled for speeding and lose their licence/get put in jail? Aren't the police allowed to go after the people that record this sort of stuff? I'm sure there are plenty of videos of participants driving over the speed limit.

If I had the money I'd certainly want to try something like the Gumball Rally or Cannonball Run. I'd imagine it would be a great laugh, as long as no one gets put in jail or hurt. :p
 
I think they just get MASSIVE fines or just outrun the police.

I got a mate who goes on the modball rally every year and he said if they have police trouble they usually just try and nail it to the border or pay them off etc.
 
Chris1712 said:
Love the Gumball vids, was there a docu on eithe 08/09? The last I remember was with Tony Hawk in 2006? 2007 got cut short because of the accident iirc?

Hopefully there will be a good docu on the 2010 event, it makes great watching imo.
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The earlier stuff was excellent, made as a docu style where they gave drivers their own cameras for mischief and antics and had a narrator tie the whole thing together, brilliant tv!

The last one i saw they tried to bring in crap presenters and crew who had to beg for lifts the whole way so of course the fast cars didn't get any coverage as a) the drivers didn't want to be weighed down and b) after the first day they were pretty much left in the dust to interview the losers who were doing the gumball cos it was 'secret and underground' and just wanted on telly.

I havn't watched gumball since :(
 
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