Auto racing is a serious sport . Big prizes and big reputations are at stake , not to refer the spirit of the racers when a car spins out in a tour . High - swiftness driving and 24 - hour survival spectacles are no laughing matter , correct ?
Well , sometimes they are . Not all auto raceway are unrelenting and humorless . Some airstream are just … well , unknown .
From outlaw rallying that soar up from continent to continent to zanytelevisioncompetitions featuring ambulance and school bus topology , we ’re going to look at some of the weirdest , most strange machine race anyone has ever pop aclutchat . Did you bang that there ’s a slipstream that actually encourages driver to stop at brewpubs ? Or one that boast a 3,700 - air mile ( 5,955 - kilometer ) pegleg that give way from Stockholm to Boston ? But let ’s not get onwards of ourselves . The list starts on the next page .
5: Red Bull Soapbox Race
recollect the Soap Box Derby ? peradventure when you were a kid you want to be in it . While some of the early vehicles at what ’s now know as the All - American Soap Box Derby may have been made out of actual dais all that truly matter was that they weregravitypropelled and used standardized wheels . Otherwise , participants could ramp up any kind of engineless car they desire and step on it it downhill for booty .
OK , so the soapbox derby is n’t really unusual enough for this list . But the Red Bull Soapbox Race , which stress not just velocity but outside - the - corner ( and off - the - wall ) creativity , really is . " elevator car " from preceding race have been in the shape of a pianissimo , a gargantuan cob of corn and – you ’re forgiven if you ’re having trouble think this one – the Golden Gate Bridge . Technically , of course , this is n’t an motorcar race because the vehicles are n’t ego - propelled . But when the wash is this entertaining , does anyone wish ?
4: Carpocalypse Ambulance Chain Race
The Spike - TV program Carpocalypse , which was reportedly inspire by the Atari video game , " Test Drive : Eve of Destruction , " was a smorgasbord of bizarro auto racing concepts , from a school charabanc figure-8 race to a blindfold poke race . We ’ll throw a flit at the entire Carpocalypse episode usher and talk about … the ambulance Ernst Boris Chain race .
What ’s a range race ? It ’s a race between vehicle towing other vehicles behind them on string . Why would anybody require to hie with another fomite chained behind them ? For the same reason anybody does anything – because they can . In the ambulance mountain range race , ambulances race while tow cars . It ’s as simple ( and nuts ) as that . The results of the race , which was held on a circular racetrack , were charge - off bumper and towed elevator car spinning out behind ambulances . After all , is there a safer shoes to spin - out than behind an ambulance ?
3: The California Melee
The Mille Miglia was an Italianendurance raceback in the days before and after World War II , where car were n’t require to go fast so much as they were anticipate to be in it for the long haul , locomote for 16 minute or more over an open road track that was more or less 1,000 miles ( 1,609 kilometers ) in length . That ’s not particularly unusual . More strange is the California Mille . Taking the Mille Miglia as its inspiration , cars running the California Mille wind their way through California wine-colored land , hesitate for ordinance period at refuge hotels andwineries . At the very least you have to wonder how the participant stay under the legalalcohollimit for the entire 1,000 miles ( 1,609 kilometers ) .
But even more strange still is the California Melee , an outright burlesque of the California Mille , where the machine are all pre-1975 sports and touring cars and the stone plosive consonant are at brewpub and motels . Call it the Mille Miglia for the rest of us . The entrance fee is downhearted and you ’ve got three day to putter along 750 miles ( 1,207 kilometers ) . Race ? Some people would call that a road tripper .
2: 24 Hours of LeMons
LeMans , LeMons – get it ? While the factual 24 Hours of LeMans sports railroad car race , take p.a. in the eponymic French city , features real racing cars that have been tuned and engineered within an column inch of their lives , the 24 Hours of LeMons race features real , well , lemon . give more than $ 500 for your motorcar and you wo n’t be allowed on the track . hold several times a class at various race tracks across the United States , the organiser of this 24 - hourendurance raceare serious about only reserve clunkers onto the data track . If they find out you pay more than $ 500 for your cable car , admit any modifications you may have had done in preparation for the wash , they ’ll dock you a lap for every extra 10 bucks . Other penalties are determined by whirl the Wheel of Misfortune . ( Shades of Mad Max : Beyond Thunderdome ! )
Oh , yes – halfway through the wash the player vote on one participate car to be crush on the smear . So whatever you do , do n’t make for your gran ’s prized 1972 Dodge Dart to this event !
1: Gumball 3000
Remember theCannonball Run ? No , not the old picture show with Burt Reynolds , but the genuine race . It was a thwartwise - country car rally ( full name : the Cannonball Baker Sea - To - Shining - Sea Memorial Trophy Dash ) of in question legality that run from New York City to Redondo Beach , Calif. , on four social occasion between 1971 and 1979 . The real Cannonball Run has faded into criminal racing account , but the tradition it started is uphold today by the Gumball 3000 , a high - end car rally that ’s been scat every year between various localization since 1999 .
How various ? Well , the 2010 Gumball begin in London , wander its agency through much of Europe , and end in New York City , which certainly specify it as strange if not impossible . ( The drivers and their cars were fly from Stockholm to Boston . ) Other Gumballs have gone from New York to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Cannes Film Festival in the Confederate States of America of France – not a very foresightful tripper until you consider that the route traverse the Mediterranean and passed through North Africa on its way to the finish line .
Glamorous locations , expensive gondola , malefactor racing – and you may be a part of it for only 30,000 British pounding . You ’re probably draw out your checkbook right now .
