The Gumball 3000 is a collection of companies that includes an apparel brand, a registered charity and is best known for an annual 3,000-mile (4,800 km) international celebritymotor rally, which takes place on public roads. The name comes from the 1976 movie The Gumball Rally. It was established in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper, with his vision to combine cars, music, fashion and entertainment.
Since its establishment, the road rally has featured a number of notable drivers, such as Lewis Hamilton, Deadmau5, Eve, David Hasselhoff, Xzibit and Tinie Tempah. The rally changes the start and finishing point every year, with some rallies requiring travel by air to make the start and finish points. The start and finish points are normally notable cities, with London being a common stop-off due to the Gumball 3000’s British founder.
The Gumball 3000 Rally takes on average 120 drivers, each year across countries and continents on a 3000 mile journey. Travelling on public roads in exotic cars and attending parties each night, for 7 days per year the entrants of the rally receive an exclusive rally experience. The rally was founded in 1999 by current CEO, Maximillion Cooper, initially as a road trip with his friends. Today organisers strongly emphasise that the rally is a road trip and in no way a race.
Maximillion Cooper established the Gumball 3000 Foundation to benefit the underprivileged youth in the United Kingdom. This is achieved through education, infrastructure, and environmental projects. Since 2013, Gumball 3000 has held an auction each year throughout the rally with all proceeds going to the foundation. Prizes have included a Fiat 500 Abarth painted by American street artist, Alecp Monopoly. In 2014, the Gumball 3000 Foundation sponsored and donated $100,000 to Stand up for Skateparks, a charity founded by Tony Hawk. In December 2015, the Foundation funded a trip for the When You Wish Upon A Star charity. The trip sent 100 terminally ill children to Lapland for just before Christmas.
