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May 4, 2007
Fatal Crash Kills Gumball Rally
It looks like the Gumball Rally has been canceled.
"The Gumball 3000 rally was called off last night after two British drivers in a Porsche were involved in a high-speed accident in which a man died and his wife was injured.
The rally, which was inspired by “Cannonball� Baker’s coast-to-coast motorcycle race across the United States in about 54 hours in 1933, will not travel any farther this year. "
Wikipedia has more details, and it doesn't look good:
On May 2, a convoy of four Gumball 3000 vehicles was involved in a traffic accident near the town of Struga, Republic of Macedonia. The Techart Porsche 911 Turbo of Nick Morley and Matthew McConville hit an oncoming car, at a reported speed of more than 200km/h, after which, according to media reports, they tried to escape the country via the nearby border post. However, they were stopped and arrested by the police, and will be held in custody until their trial has begun. The casualties reported in the accident were the 67-year old driver of the other vehicle (a Volkswagen Golf), who died on his way to the hospital; and his wife, who was seriously injured. [5] [6] The following day, the rally was cancelled because of the accident. [7]
So, basically, they appear to have hit a VW Golf head-on going over 200km/h (124 mph) in Macedonia, killing the driver and seriously injuring his wife. They, they ran for the border but didn't make it. Ouch.
Update: Video of crashed vehicles.
Update 2: Apparently, they were reportedly picked up by another Gumball Rally vehicle with Russian plates and fled the scene without administering first aid. The man then died on the way to the hospital in an ambulance. This sucks. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Update 3: Here's a video update from the BBC. The two rally participants have been arrested.
Posted by Rob Kiser on May 4, 2007 at 9:28 AM
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