This
is where we will post daily updates as we do the Players Run starting
in Seattle on June 2nd at the Fairmont hotel in Seattle, and ending on
June 9th at the Bellagio Hotel June 10th. We welcome comments on the
event as it unfolds.
Just
got itinerary so if you are near any of the checkpoints please stop by
and say Hello. The Lotus is currently in Seattle at one of the best
Stereo shops there, thanks to Roy Cats with the Lamborghini. He e has
been most hospitable, and helping me out. Getting the Alpine Navigation
installed with Laser Jammer for the not so friendly members of law
enforcement. Somehow they mount sensors on the front and rear of the
car and it integrates into the Valentine1. Don't know much about it
other than he said they could do it and I said yes. Also having some
additional stereo work done and the biggest fight with the wife related
to whether putting the subwoofer in the boot or under the passenger
side foot well. Space is certainly a premium in the car and since the
footwell is extra long on the Lotus she capitulated. Her one caveat
which she said as we wer both on speaker phone to the installer in
Seattle is, we cannot lose more the 6 inches of footwell or he will
have to remove it. He promised and for my sake I hope he does what he
says. Last thing I need is a pissed of co-driver before we even start
this endurance type event.
Anyways hope to see anybody that can make it.
Players Run 2005 is starting on June 4th! starting in Seattle and the finish is in Vegas.
June 3rd Seattle, WA Car check in at the Fairmont hotel June 4th Cars leave from the Fairmont hotel at 9.00 am
June 4th Ashland, OR Cars arrive at the Ashland springs hotel at 9.00 pm June 5th Cars leave for San Francisco, CA 8.00 am
June 5th San Francisco, CA Cars arrive at the Fairmont hotel at 7.00 pm June 6th Cars leave for Los Angeles, CA at 9.00 am
June 6th Los Angeles, CA Cars arrive at the Mondrian at 6.00 pm June 7th Cars leave for San Diego, CA at 9.00 am
June 7th San Diego, CA Cars arrive at the Solamar hotel at 6.00 pm June 8th Cars leave for Las Vegas at 9.30 am
June 8th Las Vegas, NV Cars arrive at the Bellagio at 6 pm
They are also having a picture contest so bring your camera and video camera to capture the moment!
Ok
the day for departure is among us. We are getting ready to head for
Miami for our flight out. I believe the Lotus was picked up from the
Shop in Seattle, thanks to Roy Cats who will be running his Lamborghini
in the event, and took his precious time to help out,. but has
not been confirmed yet since its still early in the West Coast. If that
is so, then we should have the Alpine Navigation integrated with the
DVD and main control unit, the the new Laser jamming equipment, which
integrates into the Valentine one radar detector, , the additional
stereo mods which added an new amp and small sub in the footwell of the
passenger seat, and the Ipod hookup which integrates the Ipod
into the main control unit. A fellow runner in the event with a
Porsche 911 made me aware of some very good preprogrammed police
scanners, and we ordered a Uniden BCT-8 with something called
Bear Tracker proximity alert. If a highway patrol car is using his
radio within 3 miles it will alert us like a radar detector. Device
also gets the new digital bands so it might actually be pretty comical
to hear what they have to say as we run through each state.
Between
the radar detector, jammer, scanner, walkies, and text messaging
we are about as covered as we can reasonably can be. In the Europe
Gumball 3000event, scanners were not available and Cb's run on differnt
frequencies so were useless. Hopefully this event will find such tools
more productive. Team Darkcyd's indespensible co drivernavigator
Tara spent countless hours loading her IPod so we don't fall asleep,
and have plenty of variety. The problem is it will not convert MP3's
unless it determined you bought it, so none of my 20 gigs (pre IPOD) of
music will convert and primarily what she loaded on the IPod is what is
going to be played.. Since I typically like more agressive music which
is appropriate for this event, I hope it all works out and not fighting
to get "dancing queen" out of my head.
Will
be sending out a test of the email list once in Miami, to make
sure that works for those that will be able to get such reports
Straight to their inbox. We will be arriving to Seattle tommorow by 6
and unfortunately are going to miss the big party held at Roy's mansion
for all the participants. O well..
Robb
Please
visit www.darkcydracing.com for more information on Team Darkcyd's
participation in the 2005 Players Run driven by Robb and Tara Rill,
from Seattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.
This
is the group test email to make sure everything is working properly. If
you got this email it is either because you are a friend , family
member, or Gumball 3000 participant in Europe last year. For those not
aware, we are currently in route to Seattle and will chronicle this
years Players Run event through the our website with more background
info at www.darkcydracing.com. This year instead of running in the
Supercharged Saleen Speedster, we will be running in a Twin Turbo Lotus
Esprit V-8. If you are not familar, please check out the site which has
some previous log entries and will give you the ability to track our
progress. We will have wireless internet in the car, so if all goes
well, you should receive one email a day for the event. We are also
using 2 mounted video cameras, with footage that will be made available
on the site as soon as its completed. The Gumball 3000 footage is being
edited now after some technical issues with the way it was encoded, and
should be made available in about 2 weeks. For those in the West Coast,
please check the Itinirary on our site which shows the checkpoints at
the end of each day and say hello in person if travel permits. We
already know of people planning to meet us at every checkpoint so it
will be fun. There certainly are not alot of opportunities to see such
a large groups of exotics tear it up together so I assure you it will
be worth it.
Cheers,
Robb
by Robb and Tara Rill,from Seattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.
Ok we made it in last night about 6. Car picked us up, and their were
no problems with baggage. Tara was quite tired so plan was to drop her
off at the hotel Fairmont and have car wait to Take me to roy cats
house where he was celebrating his birthday with about about 30 exotic
cars at his house. I had not heard any updates on if my car was even
picked up from the shop to have the stereo, Nav, jammers,
etc. installed and honestly was little worried something went wrong and
they wanted to tell me in person. so I'm checking in at hotel and
couple next to us Richard and Donna and they ask me if we were in the
run and say they are running in a Gallardo. I say yea and that I'm
heading to the party at Roy Cats house to pick up my car. They
then ask what car and I say Lotus Esprit. She then says -wow what a
stereo it has and I was so happy top hear that car actually was there
safe and sound with a confirmed sighting on it I hug her! She says the
Stereo shop was sowcasing it and the goodies including the jammer and
as a result they are installing like 7 more.
So I hop in the
car with the driver downstairs and we rush to Roy's house. Police has
initially blocked off area for the party. Its quite a scene with
exotics everywhere and quite a bit of young women. Roy himself has a
beautiful garage that runs two deep, and showcases his 4 Lambos and
celebrating his birthday. Great guy who paid for everything in advance
to get job done without even meeting me! I meet some of the guys
including the guys in charge of install and one of these girls is
posing on the car. Its a funny scene and apparently one of the
installers "friends". Anyways she is mtenioning how she loves Lotuses
because of pretty women and all that, and Im mainly trying to see the
equipment that was installed. Guys in Seattle at Car Toy's in Seatlle
are very professional even though head sales guy Patrick was a little
tispy and rambling a bit about how my wife threatened to shoot the
installer if the subwoofer in passenger well took more then 6 inches
and they got away with just 5. She didn't threaten them but
rather said she would get in car if was beyond 6 which was the promise.
Anyway we all got what we wanted. Cars and people are everywhere and
they want to grab some dinner at mexican place just down the street.
So Zoe the girl posing on car demands a ride, I oblige taking
her to the Mexican place and we end up meeting with about 50 of Roys friends and other Players run guys.
I meet up with Bulent and Peter who arranged to ship my car and are running the news 911GT3 Rs.
Car is fully race out with full frame roll cage, Recaro racing seats
etc. and I have to say Peter who is German is one of the funniest guys
I met. He talks like Arnold Scwartzenager (sp), but has long hair. He
don't even try to be funny and makes me laugh. So he and Bulent
introduce me to cool guy named Robert also running in his F40 who lives in Seattle.
Cool young guy about 26 who graduated from MIT and sold some
technology for quite a bit of money to Cisco and living the good life.
we hit it off and he is going to show us his
12 car garage with double lifts for his stable of nice cars. turns out
his wife who is a Orthepedic surgeon just got T boned by a drunk driver
and is in the hospital having an operation. the drunk is a repeat
offender and she has broken collar bone, broken leg, broken ribs and
possible internal bleeding. So he jets
off to the hospital to deal with the mess and I feel real bad for him
because of his wife, and how his trip is obviously cancelled. Later
today I find out she will be ok and is transfered to the house with 24
hours doctor watch and the drunk makes bail for 5k.
Today spent most of time getting car ready and meeting other on the run. Got the police scanner installed and all set up at Car Toys and the fixed a problem with the Ipodhookup.Markus
the orginizer seems to have his plan together and all cars getting
stickered up , and we got our race packets with goodies and what not.
Roy and the gang of girls and what not supposedly never made it home
and still doing whatever wherever. Tonight there is a party at a club
called Element, and we all leave in morning tommorow from Fairmont at
9:15 to run to Oregon where it is believed we will have a track day somewhere. Also told we will be racing on Leguna Seca in Cali.
sidenote -Cali new law allows cars to get impounded if caught about
100. we shall see who losses their car. also couple in a Lambo getting
marries at the Bellagio after this event if the dont kill each other on
the way.
Good Friend Geoff from Vancouver just arrived so gotta run to show him around and get ready for dinner. If all goes well should here more tommorow night.
Cheers,
Robb
Please visit www.darkcydracing.com for more information on Team Darkcyd's participation in the 2005 Players Run driven by Robb and Tara Rill, fromSeattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.Roys
Ok
keep in minnd its past 12 pm I just got here an hour ago so spelling
and grammer will be horrible. I have limited time to write so please
bear with me. We left Seattle about 9am and had decent crowd and brief
police escort. Route card was wrong and instead of conituning on I-5 we
went towards the airport instead. Figured it out and group of 20 of us
running pretty hard in dense traffic. Best thing we purchased out of
all the equipment was the uniden bct-8 scanner and not only did it save
us multiple times as we heard the cops freaking out about what was
going on, but allowed us to take the lead in the stage after our lead
group got nicked by about 5 cops waiting even though by the time they
saw us we were not speeding. Had our buddy Jerry in the Stradale Modena
in cuffs and confiscated video tape of him basically chasing me the
whole time up until then. We then ran by ourseleves for several
hours wondering where everyone was and hearingf the police call ahead
to alert we were comming. Crossed the border fine and ended up running
hard in the mountins. what I did not know was cop was wating for us at
what was an indian reservation. We had no idea, and without radar
caught up to me , yanked me over, and told me he could take me to jail
becasue anything over 25mph over in a reservation was federal offence.
Was nice guy, I got 250 fine, and no points since its federal. We leave
then 10 minuites later pulls me agin -same cop I was doing 70 and
thinking how could he and basically said no more warnings and stay at
55. We did and still retained top rankings. Cannot express how
important scanner was as we heard the aiplanes overhead indicating
their game plan. Ended up running toward Crater lake and heard a buddy
in an nsx we knew get pulled with mile marker and so we knew where he
was. This is after running 100 miles behind a coip doing 55. He wavd at
us and we at him and we continued running with the nsx to Crater lake.
Then the entrance was closed so we needed to run around the long way
which was an additional 50 miles and ran into a fuel problem. Middle of
nowhere no cell service and no stations anywhere. I see a cop and I
pull over to find out where I might grap some quick petrol and he tells
me nothing around except a hidden place that is a camp ground site. If
it was not for that cop we would be stuck in the middle of the forest
by ourselves with no gas or communication. so the group of 15 cars pass
us the pther way wondering where we were going and by time we got gas
and made it up to the top of the mountain we were about 25th. If we had
not had the gas problem would have been first. The two germans dressed
up as cops were first in a mercedes SUVAmazing. We then ran to Ashland
where we are now after a very slow drive since cops were everywhere and
now have notified everyoine in every state we are comming. Tommorow is
about a 700 mile drive and we go through some very beautiful scenery
but im keeping that to myself until its done. Lotus ran perfect with no
problems.My buddy in the GT3rs got up to 178 then he tells me he his
liscence is exired. Peter is the funniest guy I know and I cant help to
laugh so hard because he dosnt even tery to be funny. He talks like
Arnold Swatzennager and driver like shumacher. Some nice local kids
gave us a ride to dinner since its freezing cold and was a 10 minute
walk. Thanks guys. The mountain view was amazing and we actually drove
through snow. Hard to beleive being from Florida. Marcus the
event orgazier has done a top job and the staff is super professional.
We got to our hotel room with the bags already there which is a nice
feeling after a 13 hour drvie and Tara had a crises in the morning
since we ran out of room in the lotuis with items she thought would
fit. Dont ask how we made it fit, but we did. Anyways there are
actually about 20 other little funny stories about other I could write
but time is short now so will have to wait for another entry. Got some
good video and for the nice guy Rob we met in Seattle at the start
please send those pics. Anybody else who saw us off today or that we
met along the way please sned the pics and we will post them on the
website when we get back . I know lots plan to meet up with us in Cali
and we really look forward to it. Colin called me from the Gumball last
year in the middle of the action and it was right after that call that
things got chaotic. Mayber he was a bad omen ;-)
Cheers,
Robb
Please
visit www.darkcydracing.com for more information on Team Darkcyd's
participation in the 2005 Players Run driven by Robb and Tara Rill,from
Seattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.
Good
evening. Today was a spectacular day.! Met a nice guy in the morning
who was a local in Ashland who helped me find a gas station that
was open at 7 Am to prepare for the start. . Sleepy little town didn't
have much available. We started out with a police escort and because of
yesterday nobody wanted to take lead. I think I menrtioned I was
leading a pack that all got nicked yesterday and now have to go to
court in Portalnd on criminal charges, and I was the only one to escape
the group because I did not pull over. They all got a bum rap and were
not speeding when they got caught but regardless are now in the machine
of justice. So with them being gun shy I took the lead and with the
scanner we ran a a steady but not psycho pace with about 13 cars.
Mostly the Lambo Gallardo and the Modena keeping close tabs, with Peter
and Bullent in the Gt3 always close behind. We charged into California
and were soon into spectacular moutains for at least 125 miles. Was
amazing driving up the twisties and lots of excitment since passing the
cars we quickly came up upon was difficult. One big event was a truck
that was maybe late 70's ford f50, that was loaded with firewood.
Car was clearly unsafe and he was never touching his breaks in front of
me with the truck swinging back and forth climbing up the hill. He was
going way to fast for that vehicle and when he saw us he reasonibly
quickly allowed us to pass. 10 minutes later I find get a call on the
walkies that somebody is down. Since I was lead car I pull over and
realize only 3 or 4 immediately behind me. I thought one of us went
over the cliff and soon discover it is the truck that went over.
He should be dead but a tree caught the truck and he emerges from it
relativly unscathed. Knowing the cops are going to blame us, we keep
going and later 2 of our vettes get pulled and asked about the wreck.
As expected they say one of us cut him off and not only is it not true,
one of the last guys in group has it on tape. I saw picture of truck
abnd it is no more. Supposdly made news but truth is he either didnt
have brakes or didn't use them and went over driving too fast.
Later
the radar detector working with the scanners work superb, and I hear
over scaenner they mentioining our Lotus specifically, I assume because
it was lead car in our group. Every time the cops saw us though we were
doing 60 like clockwork and I know they were frustrated that obviously
they could not bleive 12 exotics would be doing the speed limit every
single time they saw us. We then took a scenic detour through the
redwood forrest which was amazing, and I have a picture of the Lotus
driving through a huge 1000 year old Red wood tree. Got some
lunch with about 10 of the guys and relaxed for an hour since we
made good time. Tara then took over and drove the last 125 miles on in
and I have to say I was impressed with her driving as the cemera crew
recorded the action. Since we were lead car I told guys we were
switching and that they could pass if bored but it ended up being her
driving a levels nobody expted and Peter my crazy Grman friend in the
GT3 said she forced them to even push harder. Kudus to the wife! Drove
into San Fran and was jammed with Traffic. Was worried about the Lotus
overheating but the fan kicked on and we were good. Lotus ran flassless
and we seemed to get quite a reputation for having an agressive running
car. The Hotel scene at the Fairmont we like a huge event with all
thethe street in front of the hotel blocked off so we could all display
the cars. Steve Saleen sent an S-7 over who will join us on the run.
Also an enzo joined us today, so expect more things to come. We are
going to go tour the Saleen factory later I am told which is exciting
to me since we own one. Had a great party at the penthouse of the
fairmont and catering and service was top notch and met and made many
new friends. Tara is going to drive a ferrari 360 for part of tommorws
stage and I will run in the Lotus with another co driver. The only
dissapointment was a pal Jeff with another Black esprit that has 650 HP
was delevered to the hotel to run in the event with us and snapped a
drive shaft 8 blocks away from the hotel on a test run. So he will
contuine to run in his cab 996. Wanted to have us together running to
show the Lotus domination for the event but not going to happen.
Anyways, we run to LA tommorow and should see some of the coast. Have
quite a few friends expecting to meet us in LA and looking forward to
it. As always plenty of stories to tell with not enough time to write
at current moment. Fort anybody going to meet the event in LA we are
going to arrive at the Mondrian and please send any pictures you take
of us in the car. It seems every new stop has more and more people.
Hope you end up being one of them.
Cheers,
Robb
Please visit www.darkcydracing.com for more information on Team
Darkcyd's participation in the 2005 Players Run driven by Robb and Tara
Rill,from Seattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.
Today
was the best yet by far. We started out with a police escort through
the streets of San Francisco and people were amazed at all the cars.
Steve Saleen sent an S7 to run with us and we went in a parade
through some really hilly streets including that famous street theat is
brick and winds back and forth in between some houses. The roads are
terrible and I spent an hour prior to- leaving trying to get the Lotus
washed, and ended up doing it myself at the Garage since it was too
early to find someone. We all charged out pretty hard and hit the
typical trafic associated with Cali. On the way, I friend Colin from
the European Gumball met up with us a a gas station to say hello and he
and his father were kind enough to bring us some digital tapes for the
camera mounted on the car, so meeting up with them was a necessity. We
drove up the coast to Hurst Castle which had some amazing roads that
were very tight. Alex and Danielle in the Lambo Gallardo, and Phil in
the Modena ran hard with us, and things were great till we hit
contruction work. Mid way up there was road work and traffic was backed
up for an hour and Peter and Bullent thought I was behind them in
traffic so they told me via the walkies, I should go up the wrong way
to bypass traffic. Make a long story short, they said I was clear when
I was not and I ended up pissing off quite a few vehicles going the
wrong way. The good news I was now in front of the line that was being
held back so when we we were realeased I just had to pass 15 cars and
then me and Alex in the Gallrdo spent 65 miles all to ourselves up
chasing cars on some if the windiest roads I have ever done along the
Pacific coast. We got great video of it with the in car camera mount.
We made it to Hurst castle in Second place which was pretty good. Hurst
castle is a amazing place, but it would take two hours to see the tour
so we had to skip it which was a dissappointment.
It was the
tiime for Tara to drive the Ferrarii Modena Stadale owened by Jerry who
got nicked by the cops in the group running with me in Seattle, and
Tara was quite eager to test it. We ran in a pack of about 10 and with
me in lead car with Jason as my codriver we came upon a trooper who
must have been looking for us. so we tailed him for 20 miles
videotapping and as soon as he pulled over to the side of the road to
get behind us , we took off hard and he went poof and dissappeared. We
lost all the cars following and came upon a truck that was going about
110 and wanted to race us. This reminded me of the incident yesterday
with the other truck and all I could do was laugh at the fact this guy
wanted nothing more than to run with us. We ended up at a gas station
with him where he told us he could have gone much faster but wanted to
be safe. I'm thinking he lost a screw or two since the road coniditions
were rough and the Lotus kept bottoming out. The HRE rims are one
inch biger then stock and even though I had the fender wells trimmed it
still scraps under fast conditions with bumpy roadfs. We drove
quite fast within our limits into La and ended up at the Mondrian hotel
in 6th. It should be noted our guys Alex in the Lambo and Patrick in
the Modena were one and two. OS our roup should get major props.
Tara came in with Jerry about 20 minutes later about 20th. There
was a guy called Birdman that is banned from the event and promoting
the Ultimate Rally which is a true race done by the infamous Kimble and
was not a welome guest since he was banned after last year, and
was told after tryng to impress people with his 650 HP Porsche he broke
down an hour away from Hurst Castle. I think Marcus the event
orgainizer was not too dissappointed to hear this news.
At the
hotel, we had an amazing dinner at the hotel which is considered one of
the trendiest in LA. Steve Saleen stopped by and is being a track car
for tommorow event where we will do a track day at California speedway
where we will be led to by police escort some 60 miles from here. We
had no trouble with the police and the scanner was quiet. All in all a
great day and was happy to have a freind Jason fly in from Amerstdam to
see us. We go downstairs to the cars to grab some items we needed and a
girl thart was picked up by a guy in the NSX who basically left me when
I almost ran out of gas was doing a photo shoot half nude on the Car. I
really thought this was quite funny for reasons I cannot go into at
this point. Needless to say, I think she made some new friends.
Im quite tired now and need to pack the gear for tommorow so thats all for tongiht.
Today
was an impressive day. We left the Mondrian with a huge police escort
normally reserved only for the president and very high ranking
officals. We started on Sunset and headed for the Interstate
where we had a track day at the California speedway. They blocked off
huge parts of I-5 and we ran as a pack of 60 at speeds upwards of 115
with the cops leading the way the whole 60 miles. It was hard to
beleive the cops that had been previously harrassing us, were now not
only helping us but enjoying themselves as well, speeding on their
motorbikes. One cop was actually seen doing wheelies. About 15 of
them in total did a great job blocking off traffic and making sure we
got to the speedway without issues. Starting on Sunset would be quite
difficult without them as traffic was packed, and people were amazed at
all the cars. The cops than hung out as we tracked the cars. After the
drivers meeting, we had a visit from Darth Vadar and Chewbacka, and Roy
Cats made an apperrace basically in the buff except for womens panties
in the name of lightening up the weight so his lambo would travel
faster. After showing Tara the racing lines , she hit the track and got
a little too aggressive. Spun the car out comming out of the chicane,
and off roaded it sideways, but she is a trooper and was doing rapid
laps just 10 minutes later. I got to Track a Gallardo for
the first time thanks to alex and Danielle who ran hard with us in the
mountains, and Patrick in the Ferrari who has been in our lead group,
gave me some lessons since he is a race driver in the Ferrari Challenge
series. I wasn't used to the E shifter but the Gallardo is quite nice
with 550 Hp and a V-10 although not vert torquey but fun none the less
with all wheel drive.
We then met Steve Saleen and I thanked
him for the work on our car which allowed us to do so well in Gumball
Europe last year. He brought a twin turbo S-7 and gave people a
ride. The was also a Ford Gt for us to check out which is very
comfortable to sit in with the shifter angled toward the driver which I
liked alot. We then did a bad thing and Ran a Porche driven
by a Rolex cup driver against us in a Modena chasing and got kicked off
for doing it. Peter did a great job with very smooth lines. I than got
in a Jag for the final run to Sandiego as a passenger since Tara ran in
the Lotus to the Solomar in the Hotel with a camera man for an
interview on the event. I ran with Marcus's brother the
event organizer, who is a very cool managing director for a interent
company. This funny German is 6 '7 and looks like a basket ball player
and we just laughed about all the craziness since this was his first
event. I was told some guys had some trouble with the cops on the run
to the hotel but once again the police scanner alerted the group, and
Roy Cats was seen pulled over for supposedly going 150 which
technically can allow them to impound the vehiclke under new
Califoranian law for anything over 100. Havn't seen him since. Had
a bizzare experience at a place called the strip club where you cook
your own steaks. I don't eat meat so was not exactly my type of place.
Later one of the Ferrar 355's had the top down in the garage and a
bunch of guys took the soiled towels from the huge laundry bins and
stuffed the whole car with them . Was not my idea but admit I
participated in the joke. Met one of the guys chronicling the event
(another Marcus)who had facinating life including photographing Nelson
Mandela in 1994 and witnessing the autrocities in Rwanda during the
same time period. He spend 9 months traveling most of the world on a
motorcycle. We then filmed the ending scene to what is going to
be for the movie of Players Run being made with Tara and I on a
rickshaw, with the guy biking us back to Florida on the assumption we
killed the car. All in all a very fun day.
Tommorow, we make
the final run to Vegas where a helicopter is waiting to take us for a
tour of the city at 2:45. Hope to have one more good run and make it
early as we did on previous stages. If all goes will be no big police
issues. Huge finale party at the Bellagio and award ceremony. We hope
to see some of you there.
Robb
Please
visit www.darkcydracing.com for more information on Team Darkcyd's
participation in the 2005 Players Run driven by Robb and Tara Rill,from
Seattle to Vegas, starting June 3rd to June 9th.
Players Run 05 After Party and Summary
I am on the plane on the way back to Florida
and thinking of all the crazy things that happened. Let’s start with
after we arrived at the Bellagio. I can say that now since, nobody
showed up to arrest anyone.There was a
special place to park on the cars, which at a place like the Bellagio
is a big plus. We only had a couple hours to get ready, and one of the
things I needed was a Tux since it was a black tie affair. The funnier
part is on the way to Vegas from San Diego with the police chopper above and police just ahead, Tara
is on the phone with the Concierge demanding they arrange a Tux for me
without ever measuring me and have it waiting for us in the room when
we got there. The Bellagio being a 5 star hotel not only was willing
and able to accommodate the request, they got the measurements perfect,
and it was in the room as promised with our luggage ahead of us. Top
notch. We quickly got ready, and were ready for the awards ceremony by 8PM.
As we entered the main area, we were interviewed for our final thoughts
by one of the Camera men for the Players Run movie being made, and I
have to say I felt a little conservative since he was quite pimped out
in a purple suit. My only radical departure was wearing a Black Bentley
baseball cap backwards with my tux, I bought only hours before at a gas
station for $5.99 (my cheapest purchase of anything on the trip), since
I happen to like the 550HP Continental GT and it might end up in my new
garage as soon as thehouse is finished to accommodate it (too many cars not enough Garage space-lol).
The
room was packed with about 150 drivers, co drivers, and guests that
flew in. We supposedly made brief mentions on CNN and the AP picked us
up regarding the issues back in Seattle.
I interviewed Bill and Cindy who got flown in by Chopper due to the
Lambo /police incident and tried to interview a few others who stuck
out in my mind who ran hard with me including Alex in Danielle in the
Black Gallardo who decided to fly in for the last leg and avoid the
cops altogether , and 2 Brits who ran in an open top Lotus similar to
an Elise but weighed only 1200 pounds that got pulled over for a
British tag by a California FHP who demanded from Ashley the passenger
his license until he protested that since he did not have a steering
wheel on his side of the car the cop got the wrong man! Unfortunately
my battery on the camera ran out shortly after and I could not get too
many more. Then Roy Cats the crazy host of the initial party in
Seattle, who I think is one of the most memorable characters on this
thing, got up at the podium and demanded we all share our stories since
many people did not hear what happened to everyone else. He started
with a funny little story about since he is single and constantly
dating new young women, that he thought he would impress her by showing
his car collection which included the 20 cars in his possession that we
all shipped over to his house including my Lotus, several Ferraris, a
Renntech SL 600, Porches all of kind represented, and even aother like
a tricked out Dodge Ram truck and many others. He asked her to pick
whatever car she wanted so they could drive to dinner, and since he
forgot to mention only the four Lambo's were his, he hoped she would
picked one of his cars. Not that wouldn’t impress anyone in the first
place, but funny as hell none the less since by luck she picked one of
his cars. The next funny story of his was when we all drove through the
Red wood forest. There is a place where you can drive your car through
a tree and that was a checkpoint. We have a picture of the Lotus barely
making it through. While Roy
knew his car was much wider than anything else in existence, he wanted
to do it anyway. Needless to say the Lambo didn’t fit. The funnier part
is when one of the crew walked up to him after and said I was pretty
sure you wouldn’t make it since the other Lambo that tried couldn’t fit
either. Hilarious. We then took turns telling our highlights which for
Tara included dirt tracking the Lotus backwards at Califronia speedway,
and for me racing up to Hurst Castle dog fighting with Alex in the
Gallardo after beating all the stalled
traffic going the wrong way when Bullent in the GT3 told me it was all
clear, only to later discover I was already ahead of him and he was
clearly wrong. We finished second at that stage.
After
hearing many hilarious stories including many I had not heard before
such a Reza in the 650 HP Porsche pissing in a cup and then lacking the
brains to realize what would happen to them when they tried to toss it
out the window at over 100MPH put everyone on the floor. Goes
to the old saying never try to piss in the wind.The scene was captured
on video and I feel bad for the detailer who has to clean the interior.
Brian one of the Camera guys revealed his trick to slowing us down for
certain shots that was so smart I couldn’t help but laugh. They had a
radar gun in their car so they simply shot our car when they needed us
to slow us down since out of the blue our radar would go nuts and we
would freak out. I had wondered why that had happened out of the blue
with no cops appearing and chalked it up to faulty radar. Now I know
the truth.
Marcus
then gave the awards ceremony, which included best car, best player (it
is technically a poker run), and best spirit. Peter and Bullent were
runners up with their GT3RS of which there are only 3 in the country,
with the winner being Roy Cats since he has the only Brown Lambo Diablo
in existence. Best hand went to Bill and Cindy in the Yellow Murcialago
with a Royal Flush, and best spirit went to the 2 Germans in a new
Mercedes SUV who constantly changed outfits from Sadam Hussein, and
George Bush, Chewbaca and Darth Vadar, and Denver Jailbirds with Orange
Jump suits.
We
all got Plaques with our names on it for whoever made it all the way
stopping at every checkpoint. We then changed Venues to Club Lure in
the NewWynnCasino.
We had a private VIP room and the bouncer made me remove my Bentley
Hat. Was very upscale with quite erotic dancing going on between women,
and I then was reminded of what VIP means to them. I don’t drink and my
friends Peter and Bullent only wanted a few mixed drinks. She then told
me it didn’t work that way and there was only bottle service in the VIP
room which consisted of only things like 350 dollar bottles of vodka,
and DOM. If my pals had any interest in that I might have said the hell
with it and bought one but they really only wanted a Jack and coke and Tara
only water. So I almost got in a fight with her since we needed a quota
to fill of one bottle for every 3 people she insisted. I don’t like
being told what to do so I simply refused. She backed off since other
players seemed willing to make up with the quote themselves and the bar
tab I think was in excess of 6k.
We
then decided to change venues since some of the women were willing to
experience Vegas in other ways they normally never would and we hired 3
limos to take us to CH2 which is basically the most well known and
world famous strip club and often has up to 400 of the prettiest women
in the club at the same time. Most of the women never had been to one
and liked the excitement associated with seeing the world normally
reserved for men. I admit to playing the roll of instigator and bought
some of the women dances to see their expressions. I admit it was the
best money I spent on others on the trip. One instance with Julian and
his wife Kimberly provided much amusement. She apparently and happily
enjoyed her Dance, but when I bought one for her husband the tables
turned. Although he was clearly interested, he kept looking over for
approval and wasn't getting it. The girl stopped and I paid her
anyway.. I guess there is a double standard
after all-lol. Another highlight was Markus’s (the organizer of the
event) brother who is 6-7 and also hilarious. He is from Munich
and looked a little stressed, so I got him a dance and had her smack
him around a bit. A little pleasure and pain. I think it was the
highlight of the evening, and we left about 4:30 but they have a picture of themselves leaving with the sun coming up. Too funny.
The
next morning I called about 8 of the Players to meet us for breakfast
at 12 and by the time we got there was about 30 people. It seemed
nobody wanted the event to end which is how we felt. We all swapped
more stories, exchanged phone numbers and email, and I explained how I
was going to set up a section on the site for everybody to upload their
pictures and video which I am having professionally edited for all to
have including visitors to this site. I feel I made some really good
friends with the highlight being Peter and Bullent. I think Peter with
his strong German accent is the funniest person I ever met, and had to
laugh when the Germans told me he also sounds funny to them too when he
speaks German. He is such a great guy and shipped my car without even
asking for money and which has still not been paid yet. His partner in
crime Bullent who is the yin to his yang and always so serious yet laid
back, makes their relationship even more comical for me.
All
in all it was one of the best times of my life. I cannot reiterate how
professional the organization was and my hats go off to Markus and his
wife Valerie, Stephan and the two Tim’s which I called t1 and t2. It is
very difficult to pull off an event like this with so much to
potentially go wrong, and whatever did we never knew about it. Tara and
I will definitely do it again, and she even talked about doing her own
car. If that’s the case, I may have to let her race the Lotus as I
chase her in Luxury in a Continental GT. You will have to wait and See.
I
have too many people to thank so please understand if I forget to
mention your name. Starting with Jimmy for prepping the car, Sound
Ideas in Gainesville for installing the Alpine IPOD and Main head unit, Ryan the trucker who got the Lotus in perfect shape to Seattle.
Car Toys in Seattle for finishing what Sound Ideas didn’t have time to
do (although the jammer is a scam), Roy Cats for handling the car in
Seattle and even paying for the work in advance, Peter and Bullent,
Markus, Valerie, Stephan, the two Tim’s, Markus the camera guy, Benny
and Markus ( who I think went broke at CH2), and many others who I
can’t remember their names now. Also Axel, and Brian who I think got
lucky with the “model”.
To
the drivers and co driver that gave us memories we shall not forget.
Roy Cats, Depak, Alex and Danielle in the Gallardo, Patrick and Robert
in the Modena, Jerry and Jason in the Stradale, Jason and Melanie in
the Porsche Turbo I hope you liked the K and D CD),
Kevin and his Brother in the Mac daddy black Dodge Ram Truck,Jeff
and Carrie in the Porsche Cab(sorry we could race both esprit’s, the
Brits in the Open Lotus Ashley and Mark his pro photographer driver who
showed me how to use my camera, Aloise in the Porsche Cab, The crazy
Germans with costumes in theMerc Suv,
Richard and co-driver in the Black Gallardo, Raymond and Mary in the
Yellow Diablo, Bill and Cindy in the Yellow Mucilago. Kalib in the
Porsche with the funny story about having his head outside the Porsche
at 140 and assessing damage after his tire blew with his Turban staying
perfectly still on his head (see you in Vancouver), the Crazy Canadians
from Vancouver in the Vettes, Peter in the Ferrari Modena that I got
kicked off the track for racing Matt the race car driver, Bart and
Holly in the 550 Maranello (thanks for dinner) and everyone else. I
know I forgot a lot of people so please forgive me. I hope everyone
tries to stay in touch and please contact me by email on this site for
questions abut the FTP site and to the guys in the Viper who said the
had the amazing footage of all 12 of us racing in a pack up the
mountains on highway 99, please contact me as I need that footage for
the video we are putting together.
Cheers,
Will
get pictures up in a few days with video to follow. With two Cameras
and one mounted we have great footage. Sorry about the technical
difficulties on the site and people not getting the email updates after
3 days. Still not sure what went wrong.
Cheers,
Robb
Please
from now on refer to Daily updates page for more info as this page was
primarily used when having technical difficulties on the road.
June 3rd Seattle – Registration and Car Check
June 4th Start Seattle – Secret Location Oregon Mountains Special Event
June 5th Oregon Mountains – San Francisco Special Event VIP Party
June 6th San Francisco – Los Angeles Special Event VIP Party
June 7th Los Angeles – San Diego Special Event VIP Party
June 8th San Diego – Las Vegas Special Event Black Tie Finale
June 9th Breakfast and Departure – Las Vegas
Locations
of special events (helicopter fleet, mega yacht, police escorts, race
tracks and cars) are being kept a secret until rally day.
-------------------------------------------------------- 2005 Application... -------------------------------------------------------- More Information... --------------------------------------------------------
Included in your entry fee are: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luxury hotel accommodation at each destination
Secure overnight parking
Luggage transport
Selected lunches
All evening meals
All breakfasts
All VIP parties
All special events
Playersrun car decals
Playersrun route books
All goodies
Maybe a Playersrun Winners Trophy
Definitely Playersrun participant trophy
Services of the Playersrun managers, timing crews, film and photo crews, police (escorts, street closures).