Eyewitness: Gumball 3000 rolls into Helsinki

[Disclaimer: Write-up and photos courtesy of Lauri Ahtiainen, known spotter of quality Mercedes-Benzes and driver of a Miata]

During the last couple of days, three large car events have been held around Europe. As I write this, dirty and tired cars are still racing around the Nürburgring race track in Germany, with only two hours left of the legendary 24 hours endurance race. Only a few days ago, classic racing cars and various modern supercars were traveling around the beautiful regions of Northern and Central Italy on this year’s Mille Miglia.

And then there’s this, the Gumball 3000 playboy rally, currently on the jaunt across Finland to the Russian border.

According to the stickers, the SLR Stirling Moss edition has previously taken part in the Mille Miglia. This year it was part of the 15th Gumball 3000 event, which takes around hundred cars from Copenhagen to Monaco.

After traveling from Copenhagen to Stockholm the partying attenders took a boat to Turku, Finland. From there, most of the participants travelled to a checkpoint in Helsinki before continuing to Russia. I say most of the participants, as rumors say up to twenty cars were stopped by the Finnish police, which doesn’t take speeding lightly.

Despite of wild rumors about excessive speeding, most of the cars didn’t use stealthy livery against radars and speed cameras. One of the wildest was this new Aston Martin V12 Vanquish.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the event myself. Some of the guys might be real car nuts, but somehow I’ve always had a feeling that the Gumball is just a good excuse for speeding and partying with rich friends, some of whom have become famous for questionable reasons.

Of course my opinion is only based on what I’ve read from the news. Maybe most of the gumballers really stick to the speed limits and have long conversations about the difference of the firing order on Ferrari and Lamborghini V12s?

Whatever your opinion about the Gumball is, you can’t deny it’s a great way to see exotic cars. For example the SLS AMG Black Series is a very recent addition to Mercedes lineup.

Quite the opposite is this E-­class Taxi from Turku. Maybe somebody lost his license and decided to continue this way?

As the last cars left the checkpoint, my opinion about Gumball hadn’t changed. It might be a fun trip, but had I the choice I would much prefer racing around the Nürburgring or the Italian countryside.

[Images: Lauri Ahtiainen]