A Friend Told Us Where Gumball 3000 Checkpoint in Romania Will Be

Next year, the Gumball 3000 rally will go from Dublin to Istanbul, covering Europe alone this time. Romania with its “Best Driving Road in The World” is part of that list. We have a friend who lives in the country’s capital city and he recently told us that the Bucharest checkpoint may be even more interesting than the famous Transfagarasan highway itself. Maximillion Cooper is the famous car fanatic behind the Gumball 3000 rally. As you well know, it’s a yearly event that sees some of the most opulent people in the world embarking on a 3000-mile race at the wheel of the automotive world’s greatest contraptions. Traditionally, they cover at least two continents, but this time around it’s going to be only one, namely Europe. Sure, that won’t make it less exciting, considering it will go from Dublin to Edinburgh, London, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Bucharest and finally Istanbul. The whole thing will take place between April 30th and May 7th. We did this year’s European leg, and the word amazing is far from being enough to describe it. As a matter of fact, we held a little journal of our trip and finished it off with a nice cover story. We believe these posts should help you decide whether or not this rally comes to your likes. We know one thing, we like Europe. The idea of traveling to the old continent on a 3000-mile road trip may as well be a dream come true for many American petrolheads, which is why we can’t but praise Cooper’s decision. Now, back to Bucharest. Wait, did you say Budapest? No, Bucharest. They sound almost the same to us too, don’t worry, but our friend tells us both Romanians and Hungarians find it quite offending; when people mix them up, that is. The same guy told us that the co-founder of Gumball 3000 had been traveling to Romania’s capital city recently. It was a short visit, but it was good enough for the fashion designer and race enthusiast to hint where the checkpoint will be. Here’s what our friend tells us: “Maximillion Cooper posted an image with a Start-Finish caption written on the tarmac on Instagram. Judging by the location where the picture was taken - which was Bucharest, Romania - I wondered if I know the place. It turns out the spot was a checkpoint already, the one they used for the eighth edition of the Bucharest International Marathon that happened on October 6th.” Two Formula 3 races were held here