RideLust

Saturday evening marked the start of the 2011 Bullrun Rally that runs from Las Vegas, Nevada to Miami, FL. That means 75 + cars that are hell bent on getting from Checkpoint A to Checkpoint B in the quickest possible manner. I was recently in Vegas and had a chance to check out a few of the cars competing in this years event. The usual gaggle of super cars were present including this Ferrari F430 Spider that decided to put on a drift show just hours before the rallies start. The Ferrari sounds incredible ripping around on the top of this parking garage, however the driver probably should’ve thought about saving his rear tires since he has a stout 3,500 miles to go. I’m just sayin’…
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It’s summertime here in the U.S. which means that the Bullrun Rally is getting ready to kick-off another 3,000 miles of driving mayhem. There are new participants, new celebrities and of course, more police watching over America’s highways. Over the years the Bullrun Rally has given us some of the most amazing automobiles and events the rally world has ever seen and this year looks to be no different. I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Andy Duncan, the rallies creator and ask him a few questions about what we can expect from this years run.

Q1. This years 2011 Bullrun Rally takes place from July 8th – 15th and is set to run from Las Vegas, NV to Miami, FL. After running the rally for 7 consecutive years now, how in the hell do you guys manage to keep the route fresh and exciting for your participants?

A. Bloody good question. Well, there are some places that people always like to go to and we repeat visit quite often (like Vegas!) but on the whole we’re planning routes 2 years out and trying to find towns and cities that we haven’t done for a while or just haven’t done. There’s a bunch of amazing towns actually that are really great fun that few people ever here about – we research these quite far in advance and then pull them out when we need them! The other important factor is that Bullrun is really about the people on it and not the cities we go to and THAT’S what really makes this event interesting and hold up to scrutiny year after year.
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I met Annabelle Frankl in 2007 on the Bullrun Rally that ran from Montreal, Canada to Key West, Florida. She was riding along with her brother Nicolas in a then new Corvette Z06 under the guise of Team Twins. You see these are in fact fraternal siblings who both possess and unbelievable amount of skill behind the wheel of car. Along with being a wicked hot shoe Annabelle is also and automotive journalist who knows more about modern day performance cars than people who purchase them, so when she told me she has just written an article on her experience with the new Cadillac CTS-V on this years Bullrun Rally, I just has to get a copy of it for you guys to read.

So, without further adieu, here are Annabelle Frankl’s thoughts on what it’s like to wring out one of the newest performance hammers from Cadillac on one of the toughest road rallies on the planet.
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It’s the last day of the 2010 Bullrun Rally and our combatants are pretty well shot. However before the festivities are completely over there was time for a few more fun stops. First was a little trip to the taser factory where Matt and the boys from The Smoking Tire got to taser some little asian chick in a bikini and watch her fall to the floor. They followed that up with superstar camera guy Tom Morningstar getting a pretty serious ticket for racing on a public highway (a criminal offense mind you), they then hammered down 40 miles of dirt road and finally Matt goes over the INSANE amount of tickets received on this years rally. The ending of this video however is something that I don’t think anyone expected, so hit play to find out what happens.

Matt and the boys from The Smoking Tire seemed to have had a pretty uneventful day. They left the beauty of Telluride, CO and made a mad dash through Monument Valley, Utah onto their final destination of Scottsdale, AZ and the Valley Ho resort. For those of you who have never been through Utah you should know that you are missing one of the most beautiful spots on the planet earth. Scenery wise it is simply astounding and once, just once, it actually brought a tear to my eye. Only one eye though… the other remained macho. I’ve been hearing through the Bullrun grapevine that a few drivers are beginning to get out of hand which is a big no-no on this rally. Because there is only one day left teams start to get antsy and this is where bad things can happen. Hopefully the elder Bullrunners will educate these newbies and tell them to roll back on the retard throttle and keep this a safe event. Next stop, Las Vegas, Nevada and the final party of Bullrun 2010.

Day 5 of the 2010 Bullrun Rally introduces us to Shivam the Leper, Mark from Team Limo who is soon to appear on the TV show “COPS” and Telluride, CO. Host Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire seems to be getting his voice back and looks to be in a little bit better shape then he was in the beginning of the week. It’s interesting, but in this rally I’ve been hearing about more tickets than ever before, and it seems as though guys are getting busted every other mile. The goal of the rally is to navigate and make time to the next checkpoint, apparently though some of these guys are really pushing the limits. I also have to give Matt and the guys props and you should too when you think about what they’re doing. Driving between 400-600 miles per day, shooting video and then at the end of the evening they’re making a great 7-10 minute video so as to fill us in on what’s going on out there on the open road. They’re doing a great job and with only two days left of Bullrun 2010 I’m curious to know what other mayhem they’re going to get into.

Hmm… I think Matt Farah must have had a rough night because super camera guy Tom Morningstar is behind the wheel of the Black Magic Mustang. Now on day four of the rally it seems that everywhere you turn more and more tickets are being given out, in fact I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t gotten nicked yet. We’ve got one Dude who got suckered into fixing a 40 year old Mustang, a Maserati Gran Turismo with a smoke screen, a good review of the 550 hp Shelby GT500 Mustang and a finishing point of Boulder Colorado. All in all it looks as though this years crop of Bullrunner’s are doing A-OK, but it’s only day four and a lot can happen between now and Friday. Click play and check it out.

Source: TheSmokingTire.com

Well the boys from The Smoking Tire made it to Chicago on day 3 of the 2010 Bullrun, but not without some problems. Host Matt Farah has unfortunately racked up 5 tickets already and has become a little gun-shy behind the wheel. Therefore the driving duties have been passed over to camera guy extraordinaire Tom Morningstar. Tom is generally a pretty laid back Dude, but this is Bullrun, a place where being laid back only means you’re coming in last. The boys are still battling cops, flats and weather but continue to press on bringing us great coverage as well as a few laughs. Click play on the video to see what I mean.

Source: TheSmokingTire.com

It’s day two of the rally and it appears that Ice-T is having a few problems with his Aston Martin. We’ve got flat tires, speedway action and of course, more police, all in all though it looks like the Bullrunner’s are having a grand old time on their way to Las Vegas, lets just hope they make it without too many other legal infractions.

Source: TheSmokingTire.com

Yesterday I posted a quick article on the cars of the 2010 Bullrun Rally that was running from New York City to Las Vegas, NV. Everything from high end exotics to some hairy muscle cars were in the line-up making the starting grid one of the best ever. Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire was there with trusty camera Dude Tom Morningstar to film all the action from their Black Magic Shelby GT500 convertible. It looked as if everything was going fine until they hit New Jersey where they encountered what seemed to be one slightly pissed off, yet relatively cool Jersey State Trooper.

Source: TheSmokingTire.com