A Phyrgian king had bound a chariot yoke/And Alexander cut the Gordian Knot/And legend said that who untied that knot/He would become the Master of Asia – Iron Maiden

The Taxi boys had rented a Mercedes in London for the trip to Hahn, hopped the flight to Istanbul and then set out in a refurbished example of one of the many minibuses that dot the landscape of Western Turkey. The thing was a hoot, and what it lacked in speed, it made up for in range and comfort. But as the day grew later and Kemal still hadn't shown up, we decided to accept Jarod DeAnda and Fly's offer of a ride-along in two of the Volkswagen Sharan support vans.

Donated for the rally by sponsor Addison Lee, who planned to press the minivans into service as what we in the US would know as livery cars once Gumball was done with them, the Sharans arrived brand new. The van we picked up in Istanbul only had 2,000 miles on it. Roy, Ross, DeAnda and Fly piled into one van, while I hopped in with Gumball staffers Dan and Johnny. Since Alex had a route plotted, we let the Fly-piloted van take the lead, and let's just say the old boy set quite a pace. Once we got out of Constantinople-town, it was a 100-120mph dash across some of the bumpiest main roads I've ever encountered. At one point, the rear of the Sharan got so bumpy and light I was hoping that we weren't going to re-enact a diesel-powered version of Torquenstein's 2004 wreck in North Africa. Luckily, that didn't come to pass.

We missed the turn into the Turkish border crossing with the boys in the other van staring in disbelief as Dan braked hard through a red octagonal sign reading "DUR." We realized later that there were men with machine guns just down that particular road, and they must've wondered what in hell the crazy yahoos in a Fußballmutterwagen were up to. We spent 45 minutes at the checkpoint being sent around in circles before we realized that the problem was that the vans had been driven into the country by different people. Digging around, the Gumball crew came up with a list of approved drivers.

Hitting the road again, Alex realized that we were gaining on the Aytac boys in their Ferrari 456GT, the only other team besides Turkish Taxi and our Sharan convoy to make the drive to Athens. And in true Alex fashion, he devised a plan. At a gas stop, we all piled in to the mini mart to stock up on snacks. I fatefully discovered the coveted DAF banner. While ambling back to the van, treats in tow, Roy suddenly came flying out of the store with an armful of masking tape and commanded, "Johnson! I need your help!" Thus ensued a mass stickering of the Fly-piloted Sharan with makeshift Team Polizei livery. The plan was to catch up to Aytac, shadow them until they made a gas stop and then hammer forward to victory, arriving triumphant in Athens. It didn't quite work. The rain came down in falls as soon as we left the station, washing the Polizei VW of its haphazard markings. Aytac (both great guys, by the way), after swapping a Subaru alternator into their Fezza, put the distance on us.

Meanwhile, Johnny became enamored of the Dream Sandwich, a pseudo-sub that seemed to consist largely of bread. We made a final fuel stop about an hour or so out of Athena's fair city, where we fueled up on Greek pastries; once into town we paid a taxi driver to lead us to the Hilton. Cruising through a flashing yellow light (apparently, a said signal means something different in Greece than it does in the UK or US), we were nearly T-boned by a Skoda cab with no intention of stopping. We pulled in with a few miniscule bits of tape stuck to the Polizei Sharan while the DAF banner hung proudly in the rear of our vehicle. We bailed on the Hilton and headed for the airport Sofitel, so's to be closer to the cars in anticipation of their release the next morning.

With all of the smack that's been talked about the rich fucks in their expensive cars since the Macedonian accident, people tend to forget that part of the joy of these rallies is the sheer ingenuity they engender, not to mention the fun involved that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with speed. What's not wonderful about tooling through the mountains of Greece singing along with Dean Martin? Or scoring official patches from Turkish border patrol agents? Or stop signs that read "DUR?" I think anyone in those two vans would agree it was the most enjoyable day of Gumball; even if we weren't in the M5 — maybe because we weren't in the M5 — it encapsulated the anything-can-happen nature of a transcontinental rally. While some guys may sign up to drive fast and bone hookers at every stop, the thing I've appreciated most about rallying is the sense of instant camaraderie that develops; the shared wonder at seeing things we never thought we'd encounter. The Istanbul-Athens run? It was an absolute shining example of that. – Davey G. Johnson

More on the Gumball 3000 [Internal]

The video quality of this clip's a bit too sketchy for us to tell what just what brand or variant of Fiat 124-type vehicle these wacky Turkish firefighters are levitating via water pressure, but they do manage to raise it shockingly high in the air with their hoses. Which has us thinking, if we ever find ourselves caught in the midst of an Istanbul/Constantinople riot, we're bailing before these guys show up in their big, red Benzes. – Davey G. Johnson

Related:
A Flying Hovercraft [Internal]

Yes, it's the Fiat 124, the car that didn't outlast the Beetle or the Mini, but nevertheless jumpstarted a number of automotive industries, including those of the Rodina (Lada Riva), Spain, (SEAT 124), India (Premier 118NE), Bulgaria (Pirin-Fiat) and Turkey. Meanwhile, we're really missing that prepackaged, boil-in-pack Indian food we found abandoned in our Apart-Hotel room in Paris, and hating the construction workers across the street who are using something that sounds roughly like a TIE Fighter sans Doppler effect. If a gat were handy, a gat would be at hand. – Davey G. Johnson

Fiat 124 [Answers.com]

Related:
The Fiat Multicarga: Millecinquecentoamino! [Internal]

Pass the Stove Top and cranberry sauce, because GM has announced an initial $500 million-dollar investment in replacement-parts manufacturing in none other than Turkey. They're planning to create around 30,000 jobs in the nation, which is the automaker's sixth-largest market, according to GM Europe sales veep Jonathan Browning. Constantinople is no doubt stoked. – Davey G. Johnson

GM to Build Parts, Possibly Cars, in Turkey [Zaman Daily Newspaper]

Related:
Four-Wide USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix [Internal]

Fiat's new three-box sedan, the Linea, is making its material debut at the Istanbul Motor Show next month, but the company's just now revealed it in two dimensions. Penned at the Fiat Style Centre, the Linea takes some of its cues from the Giugiaro-designed Fiat Punto Grande, and others apparently from the various Fords and Opels that share its segment. No word on powerplants, but like most Euro-bahn amblers, it'll get a range of gas and diesel engines. Why a Turkish coming-out? It's to honor Fiat's joint venture to produce the car in that country — a pretty big deal in its own right. Pressspeak after the jump. – Mike Spinelli

Press Release:

Fiat Linea - World Premiere

Fiat Linea is an all-new segment C three-box saloon which d buts at the Istanbul Motor Show taking place from 2 to 12 November. Produced in collaboration with Tofas, the Turkish joint venture between Fiat Auto and Ko Holding quoted on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, the Fiat Linea will be first manufactured in the joint venture's Bursa plant in Turkey (at an annual production of 60,000 units) and marketed in a number of European and non-European countries starting in the second half of 2007. The vehicle will later be produced in other countries by FIAT.

Designed by the Fiat Style Centre, the new Fiat Linea presents an elegant, dynamic external line. The same stylistic attention has been paid to the interior, the lines of which are harmonious and well balanced with the exterior to create a bright and friendly environment capable of guaranteeing extraordinary interior roominess and superior comfort in terms of ergonomics and space available to the driver and passengers. This impression is confirmed by the car's generous dimensions which set it at the very top of its segment: 4.56 metres long, 1.73 m wide, 1.5 m tall and with a wheelbase of 2.6 m, in addition to having a luggage compartment boasting an impressive 500 litres.

An elegantly functional car, with a strong Italian imprint, the Fiat Linea will be marketed in different equipment levels and equipped with features more usually found in higher segment vehicles as demonstrated by a number of sophisticated infotelematic devices which improve the comfort and quality of time spent on board.

The Fiat Linea's generous equipment is dedicated to the protection of driver and passengers and the customer can choose from a wide range of gasoline and diesel engines that combine excellent performance, low fuel consumption and absolute respect for the environment, coupled to both manual and automatic transmissions.

And in order to guarantee the best price/content ratio, the various combinations of Fiat Linea equipment levels available are all characterised by high value for money.
Turin 20 October 2006

Related:
Breaking Through The Roof! Fiat's So Money Today, They Don't Even Know It [internal]

A mere ten days after screeching Formula One engines shrieked out across the Istanbul Park Racetrack, a group of an entirely different kind of technological marvels were making the rounds of the raceway solar cars. The cars, built by fifteen universities and one high school cruised the track a paltry 45 km/h. You probably wouldn't be ticketed for doing that in school zone. Nevertheless, we're big on the solar car brigade, as they're functional pieces of design to go as far as possible as fast as possible, even if it's akin, relatively speaking, to pouring Aunt Jemima outdoors during a Michigan winter.

Solar Cars Race at Istanbul F1 Track [Turkish Daily News]

Related:
High School Solar Cars Warp Space! [Internal]

Residents of Tokat, Turkey, are washing their clothes in a small stream and then hanging them on road signs on the Tokat-Sivas highway to dry. Needless to say, this creates a bit of a problem for motorists travelling through the area, as pertinent road-condition information is rendered invisible. An area woman involved with the practice says, "I don't have any other place to dry my clothes. It doesn't take long. We come and get them later. What else can we do??" Um, how about sticking a couple of poles in the ground and using a length of inexpensive twine as a clothesline? Just a thought. [Thanks to RD for the tip.]

Turkish motorists hung out to dry

Related:
That's a Pretty White Car...For Me to Poop On! [Internal]