Buzzed by Bullrun

Got buzzed last night by a Bullrun car in Phoenix. Went past so fast around dusk I couldn't identify it. Not real happy that they drive like that on the roads and use the name Rally. Its hard enough for us legitimate rallists to get road use.

Car in question looked like a new A4 coming up from behind with the LED lower headlight detail. When it buzzed past I caught the sticker package and the fact it was grey. It had 2 square taillights like the new Camaro. Couldn't figure out what it was. A quick Google Foo shows that Audi R8 would be the car.

Wish I would have know that they were at the W hotel in Scottsdale, it is only a couple miles from the house.

I had a guy in Big Bend area of Texas call me today and told me the Bull Run people just left his place and this place wants to market their motel/track configuration to more club groups like that. Those guys are hauling ass, if they got from AZ to Texas that quick!

My son, who lives in Chandler, Arizona, texted me last Sunday and told me that he thought he just saw a "Bull Run" flag while out driving. He must have driven by a checkpoint.

Not that I wish bad things on people but driving on public roads like juvenile delinquents and then making a TV show about it has seriously hurt my opinion of the network that airs this show. I thought the show sucked the couple times I tried to watch it. Hearing this stuff just confirmed my opinion.

Someone is going to get killed and I just hope it is not a kid on a bike or a mom and a baby (Ya I am being dramatic here). You just don't drive like that on public roads. Closed course / Closed roads ok. Tearing along on public ways is dumb, Promoting it to young kids is even dumber. ( I assume the audience of this show is the younger kids)

It is exactly this kind of thing that can wipe away years of work of car enthusiasts trying to promote our hobby in a positive light.

I don't know if anyone remembers my writeup about the truck with the SCCA bumper sticker but it is a similar result. One small group of idiots will ruin it for everyone else.

In reply to dean1484:

I agree.

Ever since Team Evo did what they did, I lost all respect for the show and any desire to watch it. Classic Jacktards. I think the only thing funnier was the Porsche boys not being able to shift, and the Lambo guys burning their $10,000 clutch out.

The show ought to be called "Idiots + $$$ = Fail". At least then I'd watch it and be amused

even cannonball went legit..

well, the actual rules for the competitors is that they aren't allowed to speed, which brought about some contention between the teams in the last show.

what did the evo guys do? last show i saw they smashed it through a chain link gate and hit a sewer pipe, popping the airbags and looking like it was totaled.

Gumball 3000 is the same way; stuff like passing on the shoulder at speed seems to be the norm.

It does hurt legitimate touring rallies, and that's bad.

naparsei wrote: Gumball 3000 is the same way; stuff like passing on the shoulder at speed seems to be the norm.

I have seen that WITHOUT a rally being involved

I wonder if and LEO with jurisdiction could issue a ticket by watching TV?

One Lap of America is the real deal. All of these other BS race things are nothing more than douchey frat boy poseurs with too much $$$ to little cents, and a need to have everyone experience their over-sized egos.

Blah.

Yeah, because we never broke the speed limit during the one lap. (Earlier you get to the track, the more time you have to prepare or sleep)

My issue with the Bullrun is that every "challenge" event that I saw involved driving off-road or on gravel or through obstacles. Who wants to do that in a really nice car? A Honda Ridgeline would be the ideal Bullrun car. The Lambo guys avoided all that by being really deceitful and doing things like removing signs, so winning was more about cheating or playing unfairly than driving or navigation skill. It's a silly game, just like Survivor.

pinchvalve wrote: Yeah, because we never broke the speed limit during the one lap. (Earlier you get to the track, the more time you have to prepare or sleep)

All of the people I've met in person who have done it (One Lap), or read about, seem like class acts. I can understand the occasional "hammer down and make some time", E36 M3 happens. But were you passing on the shoulder? And other crap like that.

Strizzo wrote: what did the evo guys do? last show i saw they smashed it through a chain link gate and hit a sewer pipe, popping the airbags and looking like it was totaled.

Isn't that enough?

I swear I could win Bullrun with my Miata. Those driving challenges from the TV show look fun!

Ran One Lap in '07. It'd be a big fat lie to say we didn't speed, but it was in a safe way if you know what I mean. Never did anything crazy like passing on the shoulder or pushing people out of the way.

I think one year a Chevy Avalanche won the BullRun.

Tom Heath wrote:

Strizzo wrote: what did the evo guys do? last show i saw they smashed it through a chain link gate and hit a sewer pipe, popping the airbags and looking like it was totaled.

Isn't that enough? I swear I could win Bullrun with my Miata. Those driving challenges from the TV show look fun!

well, to be fair, the busting through the gate was part of the challenge, they took a bad angle through the gate which caused them to slide off the road and hit the sewer stand-off, which i don't think even the producers knew was there until the car hit it.

busting through a gate at speed is part of a challenge? I'll pass

docwyte wrote: I think one year a Chevy Avalanche won the BullRun.

Meh! Wrong!

The final 3 were an Olds, an LS1 T/A, and an F150. The T/A took it. The second season it was a Charger, a Shelby, and something else and the Shelby took it in the most dodgy way possible. I stopped watching after ShelbyGate. I think the Avalanche was Season 2 and they made it to the final 5ish?

Tom Heath wrote: I swear I could win Bullrun with my Miata. Those driving challenges from the TV show look fun!

No way, there's way too many off-road stunts that would break it's poor little unit-body.

I still say the best car for Bullrun is a P71 with a fuel cell and a set of tires. It can "make up the most time" on the freeway sections, has a high ride height/is designed to crash into curbs for the crazy-stupid off road Challenges, and it would be able to go 500+ miles on a fill. Of course it would also be cheap enough to write off when their Challenges get really demented.

and being a P71.. if you kept the a pillar spots, the bull bars, and a dark paintjob.. nobody would get in your way

Javelin wrote:

Tom Heath wrote: I swear I could win Bullrun with my Miata. Those driving challenges from the TV show look fun!

No way, there's way too many off-road stunts that would break it's poor little unit-body.

I'm up for that challenge! I've got a full scream and a breath worth of airtime in the turbo car already with no significant damage. Besides, they seem to make the competitors drive stunt cars for the rough stuff.

Besides, what makes you think that a Miata would be less capable of driving on a dirt road than your average Trans-Am, VW Van, or Mini Cooper?

YES!!!!

The "actual size" sticker!!!

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: YES!!!! The "actual size" sticker!!!

That's the first Miata to ever win a race, ever. He still owns the car, which is now restored, and posts on here sometimes under that screen name. Works for Edmunds.

As for Miata on Bullrun; the cars that made it to the finals got lucky by not having to be in the insane challenges. The cars that did get suckered into off-roading usually got knackered (see the destruction of the EVO, the VW Bus, the Dart, etc). I don't doubt the Miata could do it with mods, but why blow that kind of money when the best route is going to be a throw-away car (of any ilk) because the show is so damn destructive?

The T/A that won had to be totally restored from the ground-up by the way...

I have seen more people doing their hair, reading a book, eating, playing the steering wheel with drum sticks, applying makeup, etc...

I'll put my money on the driver with the performance car and at least some experience of driving it hard over the clueless, average, distracted, Joe citizen driver any day.