Team CoPilot just send another update over!

WEDNESDAY 2 MAY | 21:43 GMT

Michael driving our trip from Northern Greece through Macedonia and into Albania has been incredible. The Scenery through the mountains was priceless and CoPilot has saved us so many times I don’t know how we would have made it to Albania without it.

We joined Team Zebra in Macedonia and have been caravanning with them ever since. We were able to open up the cars today and found it hilarious when Macedonian Customs asked us to burn rubber immediately after clearing through. We happily obliged our mates at Team Zebra and caught it all on camera!

Macedonia was beautiful and very cool. Lots of people were out to see the Gumball and we added a couple of cars to our caravan (at one point we and the Rolls Phantom overtook a donkey chariot which I’m quite certain will never happen again).

After clearing through Albanian Customs we stopped and joined at least 19 other Gumballers for a Police Escort all the way from the border approximately 90 miles into Tirana. You should have seen all of the Gumball fanatics that aligned the streets throughout this route! I almost lost my arm giving everyone high fives from the car. The people here have been wonderful.

We have about 50 Miles left in our Police Escort and I expect things will be manic at our destination.

We just got this update from Team Fuel and the Fuel Girls:

As Team Fuel crossed Macedonia they hit a massive pot hole and completely wrecked the wheel, bringing them to a stand still. Another Gumballer in a Lambo stopped and took them to a small town where they met an excited guy who had been following the rally.

Richie swapped some signed topless calendars of the Fuel Girls for a tow truck and soon had his wheel fixed.

It turns out the guy had lived in the UK and had actually lived 4 doors away from Richies parents in Ilford – the chances of that? Zero.

Back on the road now, very late and with a rattling wheel.

Also read their update from this morning in Athens!

Team Latvia (#50) crossed from Macedonia into Albania at 18:25 CET. Sadly Ainars is not driving with Janis today so he’s driving all by himself. Janis shook hands with the Albanian Minisiter at the border and then quickly continued towards Albania’s capital Tirana. A mere three minutes later also Team Gomex arrived at the border. Team 50 driver Janis has confidence he will make it to Tirana as first car today, Team Polizei entered Albania about an hour ago but took the eastern route which accounts for a lot more kilometers to cover in Albania. Team Latvia has an additional fuel tank installed which gives him confident they will make it to Tirana without anymore stops.

Tonight all Gumballers have a black-tie dinner with the Prime Minister of Albania and tomorrow they are back on the road for the longest leg of the rally. Crossing through 6 countries: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia and over 1.489 kilometers of challenging roads.

Update 19:27 CET:

Our doubts are now confirmed, the Gumball live trackers don’t work in Albania. We can only wait for confirmation of arrival by telephone now. Stay tuned!

Update 20:10 CET:

Team Herbie had a great day in their Herbie R32, Xzibit is back behind the wheel and was driving in front of Team Herbie on the way down to Tirana (apparently the Dutch police took Xzibits fake license, haha). They are almost in Tirana now.

Received a message from Steve of Team Warrior Heart. They are hitch hiking to Albania and they had a stroke of faith. Team Venoco 1 & 2 (Team #25 & 26) both lost their co-drivers (Wonder what happened there?!) opening up those seats for Steve and Freddie. ‘So ironically I having abandoned my Carrera GT in London am back in a Carrera GT in Athens! Freddie is in the teams McLaren SLR. Gumball spirit is guiding us… Next stop: UN Convoy in Albania.

Update 13:13 CET:

Team Ivy Hotel #83 joined their convoy and there’s now 2 SLR’s and one Carrera GT making their way down to the Albanian border.Steve and Freddie renamed their Car 13 to Car Minus 1.

Note: CoPilot sucks, 2 or 3 CoPilot systems locked up near Athens airport so they lost 20 minutes getting out of there.

Update 13:20 CET:

Team Polizei still leading the way but they just took a very special shortcut, leading them inland! Will they make it? Team Dreamteam (#74) is second and just follows the highway along the coast.

Update 13:39 CET:

Steve (#13 with #25, #26 & #83) messaged: “We’re totally lost!”

Update 13:48 CET:

Steve: “Local motorist leads us to the highway”

Update 13:56 CET:

Steve: “NOT! Still lost” I was on the road getting some equipment but in an attempt to rescue Team Warrior Heart I rush into an electronics store and ask for the closest computer with internet xs they have. They look at me very weird but after I explained the situation they let me use one of the computers in their office. Immediatly calling Steve and pointing them in the right direction based on the live tracker and routeplanner.

Update 14:08 CET:

Steve: “We’re good. Got a paper map at the toll booth. Screw technology :-)”

Update 16:42 CET:

Steve: ‘We just blew past cops standing on the side of the road, they looked very suprised but didn’t bother to chase us.’

Update 17:08 CET:

Steve: ‘Oil light came on on the Team 26 McLaren SLR, we all pulled over and after we let the car cool down it’s good to go again.’

Update 17:20 CET:

Steve: ‘We are driving the Carrera GT without the roof in the rain and we’re getting wet…’

Update 17:35 CET:

Greek police begged Team 25, 26 and 83 to do a burnout from the tollbooth!

Update 17:47 CET:

Team 53 pulled up with 6 other Gumballers at the Greek/Macedonian border.

Update 18:01 CET:

Steve just messaged us that team 25 had a chance to put their foot down in the Carrera GT on an amazing bit of highway in Greece without any traffic, sadly they headed towards Thessaloniki, instead of the shorter road to the Macedonian border.

Team Aytac Update 20:35 CET:

Turkish – Greek relation at it’s best: Team Aytac got stuck in Greece. They faced with an alternator problem with their Ferrari 456 GT in Kozani Greece. Now they are having dinner with the guys who are helping them to find a solution.They are very happy with the Greek hospitality! The mechanic on duty is trying to fix the problem.

To give you an update about the current situation based on the live tracker and updates we received from the drivers. Use our Gumball 2007 participant list for more information about the drivers. We also heard that the Live Tracker may not work in Albania. Stay tuned!

Team Polizei took a shortcut earlier today that turned out to be a totally different route into Albania, only team following them is Team 96 “Tag Team” in the Ford GT. This route is probably the most challenging route ever taken on the Gumball 3000.

In the meantime Team Rainbow Diablo, Team Dubai and Team 78 missed the exit towards Macedonia and are now driving near Thessaloniki, luckily from them a highway leads back to the Macedonian border and into Albania.

On the adviced route Team Latvia is approaching the Macedonian border in the M6 followed by Team Gomex in the 997 Turbo about 10 kilometers behind them. About 30 kilometers behind Uno we can find Team 77, closely followed by Oliver Morley in the McLaren 722 and the two Martini Porsches (#74 & #75).

Update 17:03 GMT:

Team Latvia was the first car to enter Macedonia moments ago.

Update 17:32 GMT:

Team Polizei first to enter Albania. But they are driving on the small E853 along the coast and not on the E852 highway from Macedonia to Tirana.

Update 17:40 GMT:

Team Kill Bill Turbo (Team 46) put his foot down and is now behind the Latvian M6 and Uno Gomes in third position. Closely followed by Team 75, 76 and 74. Team Rainbow Diablo, 78 and Dubai are now headed west towards Macedonia and the rest of the Gumballers after taking the highway to Thessaloniki.