Definitely a girl report from Gumball 3000 in Krakow

David Hasselhof and Krakow in traffic jams

It was an instant decision. I learned that a long column of the most beautiful, expensive, fastest, and in general the best cars taking part in the annual Gumball 3000 race will pass through Krakow, so I could not miss it. Except that the word “lightning fast”, which turned out to be there, had nothing to do with the existing reality. First things first.

We were driving from the south side of the city and things started to get interesting in the vicinity of Rondo Matecznego. The closer we got to our destination, the more our tram lingered. On the way, we passed a few vehicles heading for Vienna, so our irritation grew. Finally we got off at ul. St. Lawrence and we saw the crowd, what am I saying, a street literally sealed with people. I decided that I would not give up ("What? I'm not pushing in ?!") and armed with a camera, I started to struggle through the jungle, but I missed machetes. Although no, the connection between the machete and Krakow has been badly associated lately, so maybe let's skip it.

I was in the vast minority when it comes to gender. Women with cameras accounted for a small percentage of the mass on the street, and so it was clearly visible that they came here to the company and the whole party bored them. However, I consistently pushed myself until I crammed into the rear tire of a car. Success! I didn't immediately recognize the face of the man who signed the autographs through the window. It took a few seconds for me to realize that the first car I managed to break into was car number 01, belonging to David Hasselhoff . I could not regret that he did not drive the famous KITT, my beloved vehicle from the series passionately watched in elementary school. For me, David is the star of "Fearless", "Sunny Patrol" is just an overrated side plot, ridiculed by the actor himself as the only scene that saves "Pirania 3D" (whoever watched, will know which one it is about).

The most expensive cars in the world in Krakow's Kazimierz

Honestly, Krakow definitely did not make any effort. I understand that the race is illegal, so it's hard to get official permits and organize an event for road breakers. However, someone had to agree to it, and thus approve the place from which the vehicles were leaving - nestled in the narrow streets of the Museum of Municipal Engineering with its small square. As a result, not only Kazimierz has been completely jammed, but also several neighboring districts.

After watching the films that report the passage of supercars through other European cities, you want to say: "It was possible?" Kazimierz is a beautiful district, full of charm and atmosphere, but it is not suitable for such events in any way. People literally wrapped cars with each other, even the closest ones didn't have too many opportunities to take a picture of the entire vehicle. I did it a few times, also those who photographed the cars in the museum took a lot of great photos. But most of the people on the street were shooting photos of what they wanted: windows, tires, bonnet (as long as they managed to cram it enough). Just to capture something. For them, the great attraction was vehicle number 17 - a beautiful red Ferrari. His driver parked it on the street and quietly set off for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Batmobile - the star that did not shine

Lots of people crowded in front of the museum waited for the number 74 star in the Dark Knight of Gottham trilogy - a car, of course, not an actor. We waited, waited, and in the meantime we were pushing ourselves in front of the hoods of other vehicles, but we didn't get to see it. The city guards, walking back and forth on the pavement of the museum, could not tell us whether he had already been there or not at all. Only later did I find information on the Internet that the Batmobile with Team Galag leading it simply did not reach Krakow.

His absence quickly became a source of jokes such as "He must have hung at the entrance from Kielce (...). There you have a braille on the road that reads "welcome to the city of Polish kings" or "The Batmobile in the film breaks through the walls, but the Polish holes in the chassis did not survive". Apparently, while driving, his chassis "crashed". After all, we have the roads we have, and the participants of the race will remember them for a long time. Suffice it to quote David Hasselhoff's statement when asked what he thought about them: "No comment."

Gumball 3000 in Krakow

Summing up, I don't regret that I went. I regret that such a location was decided, that the cars had to squeeze through the narrow alley at a snail's pace and that people did not have the opportunity to admire them in all their glory. But the party was great, the crowds were excited and the stars were sympathetic and surprised by the cordiality shown to them. I hope they will come here again.

The cars came to Krakow from Warsaw. Their route leads from Copenhagen to Monaco, and they crossed Poland for the second time - the first was in 2001. The total route covers almost 5,000 kilometers.