The Bullrun 2012 rally kicks off in Los Angeles with another spectacular launch party – Hollywood style, on June 23rd 2012. It is followed the next morning (exact start time TBA) with another fantastic start line location! The exact location is being kept a secret for the time being. The rally will be started yet again by a special celebrity flag girl. Who will it be this year?
Los Angeles is Bullrun's home town, so you can expect some big things from the start and finish line this year! The rally will finish 7 days later with a huge finale party that you could only expect from Bullrun in Hollywood, USA, followed by the much anticipated awards ceremony. That's right, this year's route starts and ends in Los Angeles, meaning the route could really take the drivers anywhere! San Francisco? Las Vegas? Aspen? Park City? All possibilities, but nobody will know for sure until the drivers receive their coveted route cards. Last year Bullrun had some incredible competition for the prestigious Navigator Belt, and this year will probably see more teams navigating to the trophy! But the question is, who will claim the coveted Bullrun Navigator belt this year? It's never gone to the same team two years in a row. Could this year be the first?
This year’s route is going to take even the most veteran Bullrunner by surprise! The rally could be heading South one day and North the next - such is the mystery of the Wild West Run! As always, the rally will wind its way through some of the coolest cities, both well known and unheard of - giving the drivers an experience you'll never forget! Not to mention we've got some great checkpoints this year! Who's got the need for speed? We've got some great race events lined up this year!
The Bullrun drivers start each day not knowing where they will be heading next. Such is the allure of the Bullrun rally. At the beginning of each day, the Bullrunners will be handed their route cards that contain the much anticipated route details. The drivers will navigate their way to a series of checkpoints, learning their next destination as they receive their next route card. The rally could be heading to a racetrack, a unique dining experience, a well-known city or one of America's undiscovered gems. As always this year’s Bullrun rally will be fuelled by an impressive schedule of events that will remain top secret until each leg begins. Have no fear, the route this year will blow you away!
This year’s rally takes place from June 23rd- June 29th and without a doubt will be the most glamorous rally of 2012!
As with every year, the 2012 rally drivers will be the stars of the original Bullrun television show; “Cops, Cars & Superstars.” The show will be in it’s 9th season and currently airs in over 96 countries around the world! Yes, the 2012 rally will be broadcast in the USA on MTV2 and in the UK on Channel 4! You could be one of the stars of the show! Plus TV coverage might help you attract some serious sponsors!
The entry fee for the Bullrun rally is $20K per team. This fee covers the cost of a driver and co-driver in one car. All hotels, meals and events are covered in the entry fee.
Bullrun does allow for individual teams to acquire corporate sponsorships to fully cover or offset the cost of the entrance fee. Just make sure you check in with Bullrun prior to searching for sponsors to make sure that your sponsors don't conflict with the rally's sponsors.
Do you want to take part in the 2012 Bullrun rally?
E-mail info@bullrun.com for details."
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Bullrun Navigator Award:
The Navigator Award is one of the most sought-after awards in the road rally world. The award is given out to the top three navigationally superior teams. We all know that Bullrun is not a race, it's a rally - so navigation is key! This year there were many contenders for the award. We saw some great driving and some decisive decision-making this year. But the top three teams stood out from the rest. They were very consistent every day and all wanted the award very badly.
3rd Place: Wahe and Greg - Red 2012 Porsche 911
2nd Place: Ricky, Billy and Shaun - Silver Renntech Mercedes ML63
1st Place: Seth and Tony - White Nissan GT-R
Though it was close, Seth and Tony edged out the Big Easy Banditz, making them the official award recipients of 2012. Seth and Tony are the first team ever in rally history to claim the navigator award back-to-back and the second team to have won the award twice in their Bullrun career. Congrats gents!
Spirit of the Bullrun Award:
Every year, we award the Spirit Award to the team that exhibits the true spirit of the rally. We select a team that everyone likes, contributes a lot to the rally and is generally a really fin team to be around. This year we had plenty to choose from - but one team stood out! A team on a mission! They came all the way from Finland, they drove in a pig named Britney and they wore crazy costumes every single day! They are the Dudesons!
Jukka, HP and Jarppi had one crazy adventure this year. Just days before the rally, their beloved pet pig Britney died on their ranch back in Finland. They did Bullrun this year in Britney's memory - created a very special Britney-mobile, dressed as pigs and brought Britney's ashes with them to scatter along the Bullrun route. They parties hard, got along with the other teams, waged a prank war on the Wu's and entertained us from start to finish. The Dudesons really deserved the Spirit Award this year!
Bullrun 2012 – Official Awards!
After an exhausting and exciting week on the road, the Bullrunners of 2012 headed over to the Giesha house in Los Angeles for the official Bullrun awards ceremony.
The Bullrun awards range from the BOM (Bullrun Order of Merit) award and DTA Rogue Award to the Bullrun Navigator Award. Every Bullrun award recipient is carefully chosen.
Andy Duncan and David Green took to the stage to announce this year's highly-anticipated trophies.
Bullrun Order of Merit:
The Bullrun Order of Merit Award is given to the team or teams that took a truly unique approach to the rally and are worthy of recognition. Sometimes the award goes to the team that encountered mechanical issues, but manages to be on the road every morning, but this year the award went to a wild and wacky team pairing.
Team Wu and Team Texas were the recipients of the BOM Award. From the start of the rally, Team Wu and Team Texas waged a prank war on the Dudesons. Every day they came up with a variety of pranks for the Bullrun drivers. They drove in a bizarre vehicle - a rental 12-seater van decked out as a Border Patrol van. The Wu/ Texas pairing definitly deserves the BOM award this year. They certainly made the rally just that much more fun!
Bullrun Hot Lap Award:
This year at the Reno-Fernley raceway checkpoint, Bullrun held its annual hot lap challenge. The award is given to the driver who had the fastest lap around the course.
Of course, there's one guy who has been vying for this award and stopped at nothing to get it. He drove a brand new 2013 Porsche 991 on the rally and wore footy pajamas on the rally. Congratulations to Drake Kemper for having the fastest lap around the track. Drake knows his racing line - he races Porsche's for a living. Excellent driving Drake!
Best New Team Award:
Every year Bullrun has plenty of returning teams and a whole new crowd. It can be tough to find your way in the rally when you have no idea what you are doing - especially when you only have a GPS and a radar detector. But one team really stood out as the best rookie team of the year - Team Karma! Chi, Gina and Diana are welcome additions to the Bullrun family. They drove hard, parties even harder and were great fun to be around!
DTA Best Female Team Award:
This year the DTA Posse decided to hand out an award for the best female team. The team that won this award wqs able to keep up with the boys and even place a lot higher than them. This team had a number of top five finishes, navigated very strongly and contributed a lot to this year's Bullrun atmosphere. Team Karma was also the recipient of this award! Congratulations ladies!
CEC Hottest Car Award:
Every year, Claus Ettensberger likes to hand out an award for the hottest car. Some teams go all out decking out their ride for Bullrun. This year we saw many cool wraps on the cars and many mods. But the crowd favorite this year was Michael Schwab's blue camouflage Porsche Panamera Turbo! The camo wrap drew a lot of attention to the car, and we certainly think that it's one of the coolest wraps we've ever seen. Obviously Claus thought so too! What will Schwab bring on the rally next year?
Recap Day 7 - the final day! The Bullrunners emerged from there Santa Cruz hotel squinting into the light. The week of exhaustion was almost behind them. With only one more stint back to Los Angeles and a few checkpoints left, the drivers began to realize that their week-long odyssey was about to be over.
The teams hopped into their cars and headed to their checkpoint in Fresno, CA. The Race Room would welcome them with a driving simulator challenge.
In typical Bullrun fashion, the drivers went every which way, trying to find the best route to Fresno.
Some drivers decided to take a gamble and take what they thought was a shortcut. Team Hudson and Team Kidnice got stuck on the road for 15 minutes as a local farmer moved his cattle heard from one field to another. Could things have gone any worse?
Many of the teams decided to take an off-road shortcut into Fresno. For those teams brave enough to take on the dirt, it would prove to be a worthy gamble.
The Race Room welcomed the Bullrunners for lunch and a chance to hone their racing skills on multiple racing simulator machines.
Congratulations to speed demon, Drake Kemper, for winning the Race Room hotlap challenge!
As the teams left Fresno, nobody knew who would take home the coveted Navigator or Spirit of the Bullrun Awards. With so many teams in contention this year, the results wouldn't be decided until the teams arrived in LA.
The final stint saw the drivers in a close pack. Team Karma ran along-side team Hudson into LA - holding their own against last year's Bullrun champions.
But Seth and Tony were stopping at nothing to ensure victory for another year.
As the teams arrived back at Hotel Andaz, they celebrated the hectic and rewarding week that was Bullrun 2012!
Day 6 has arrived, and the drivers woke up in beautiful Klamath Falls, Oregon. The drivers were treated to spacious houses on the ranch last night, and got to see a private screening of last year's Cops, Cars 7 Superstars TV show.
When the teams arrived yesterday, the Dudesons were able to get the Wu's back for their mischievous pranks earlier in the rally. The Team Wu Border Patrol van was full of feathers. But the Wu's warned that the Dudesons would need to sleep with one eye open because another prank would be coming their way very soon.
The cars lined up for the start, ready for the unexpected. The route cards were handed out and the teams hit the road for checkpoint 1 - Lucerne, CA. Finally, the rally would be leaving Oregon.
The Big Easy Banzits took to the streets, eager to get ahead of the rest of the drivers. When you've won the Navigator Award once before, you don't want to give away your secrets, so you need to stay as far away from the group as you can. But Team Hudson was right on their tail.
Unfortunately for many of the teams, a police roadblock put a damper on their day. Most of the cars that were bunched together got pulled over for a talk with the local law enforcement.
For the drivers who took an alternate route, the open roads greeted them, and the state of California welcomed them back. Mount Shasta sat on the horizon, making for a great photo opportunity. The sights you see on Bullrun are something else! This year the drivers have gotten a chance to drive some great roads and witness truly breathtaking landscapes.
But as the teams got 40 miles out of the first checkpoint of the day, Jennifer Nicole in the Team ID Agency Lincoln MKX, pulled a dastardly trick. As she passed some roadwork, she asked the locals to hold back any Bullrun cars for as long as they could. Obviously her plan worked, and the ID Agency team continued on their way to Lucerne.
The teams grabbed their route cards from the Bullrun checkpoint vehicle and headed to the next checkpoint at Gotts, St. Helena and then onward to the final checkpoint of the day - the Dream Inn, Santa Cruz, California.
The first arrival of the day was Team 13 - Jason Weiss and Michael Schwab in the camo Panamera Turbo. Second in was Bill Sheppard in the rented red Camaro and third was Team Karma in the black Porsche Panamera Turbo.
Stay tuned for more Bullrun madness on the final day. Who will take home the Navigator Award this year? There's a number of teams in the running. We'll find out who it is tomorrow! back to Los Angeles baby!
Day 5 Recap - Portland, Oregon welcomed the Bullrunners with sunny skies on Day 5 of the world's most glamorous rally! The drive yesterday took its told on some of the drivers, but for many, the party raged on until the early hours of the morning.
The drivers got out of bed and headed down to the parking lot to find their cars in an interlocked mess. The Bullrunners sure didn't park like this the night before! Anyone who has ever played the game 'Rush Hour' would recognize this sight. Now who on earth would pull such a dastarly prank and move every single Bullrun car so that they were all boxed in? Wu?!? We know it was you!
As the drivers lined up their cars on Day 5, rumors began to spread. Where would the rally be heading today? Some thought Salt Lake City would be the day's destination, while others thought it would be a shorter drive.
When the rally departed Portland, and the drivers received their route cards, they learned that Bullrun was heading to Oregon Raceway Park.
The teams took off down the road, excited to hit the track once again. Yesterday's first place team took off ahead of the pack. The Big Easy Banditz, determined more than ever to take back the Navigator Award, readied themselves for checkpoint 1. Ricky Chancey bought a Mercedes ML63 for the rally in the hopes that he would flly under the radar. Though his co-driver Billy was arrested earlier in the week, the team has been performing very well and with the help of second navigator, Shaun, they have successfully placed in the top three at most checkpoints on the rally - exhibiting true navigational prowless!
Team Hudson on the other hand was met on the highways or Oregon by the state police. Driver, Seth, was placed in handcuffs and taken to the county jail. Unbelievably, co-driver, Tony, bailed him out, and in less than four hours, met the rest of the drivers at the race track.
The Oregon State Troopers were out in full force today. Nice cars on the highways of Oregon aren't an every day sight.
The rest of the drivers arrived at the track, ready for some fast-paced racing! First in? Michael Schwab and Jason Weiss in the blue camo Porsche Panamera Turbo.
After some hotlaps on the road course, the drivers hit the road, heading to Crater Lake, Oregon to grab their next route card.
Once again, Team Hudson was pulled over, but despite rumors of Seth being arrested again, the team got back on the road.
While en route to Crater Lake, the teams encountered snow. Even though it's June, the national park still had plenty of snow on the ground - but it made for a very beautiful drive.
They continued down the road to encounter the lake with an island in the centre. Who ever says that this isn't a spectacular sight mustn't enjoy the scenery.
The drivers then picked up their route card and headed on to the final checkpoint - Klamath Falls, OR.
First to arrive at the final checkpoint was Greg and Wahe in the red 2012 Porsche 911. Ben Taylor in a rental Camaro showed up second, and the all-feamle team, Team Karma, came in third.
Where will Bullrun be heading tomorrow? We'll find out in the morning! Only two more days until we hit Los Angeles and complete the West Coast Loop!
Recap Day 4 - So far the rally has traversed across a variety of landscapes, leading us to the plains of Boise. Last night's party raged on until the early hours, and of course Team Texas took centre stage and partied hard in true Texas fashion!
The drivers hit the road for their lunch stop in Oregon - so the drivers headed West! The rally has never been through Oregon before, but the drivers were in for a real treat! The windy roads would prove to be a challenging drive - but worth it. The drivers stayed in a tight pack while en route to the lunch stop.
Team Yeti took the lead in their stealthy Subaru WRX "Survey Vehicle" but were quickly overtaken by Seth and Tony in the Hudson Jeans GT-R.
After a delectible meal in the small town of Mitchell, Oregon, the drivers had no idea what was in store for them. A long drive awaited them.
The skies started to cloud over, and it was revealed that the final stop of the day would be Portland, Oregon. The drivers pointed their cars straight into the rain.
Seth and Tony took the lead right away, but their lead was taken away when they saw flashing lights in their rear-view mirror. It seems that you don't have to do anything wrong to get pulled over. We wouldn't be surprised if the local police started issuing tickets for 'driving while Bullrunning.'
Even after being pulled over, the guys managed to find a decent route, which took them back to the front. The roads were amazing!
But the DTA Posse BMW X6 M driven by Aaron Guardado and Randy Brown caught up quickly and stuck with the GT-R for the last 100 miles or so, eventually passing team Hudson.
But it was Ricky Chancey, Billy Blatty and Shaun Viola who surprised everyone by showing up first to the Boise checkpoint in their 600hp Renntech Mercedes ML63 - stealth is key!
Not far behind the Big Easy Banditz was the DTA Posse's BMW X6-M and the newly spray-ained Camaro of Bill Sheppard.
Day 3 began at the Hyatt lake-side resort on Lake Tahoe, NV… One thing about this year's Bullrun route is that it is truly scenic! First the drivers took a costal drive up to San Francisco, then into the California forests to Lake Tahoe. Now we've got mountains on the horizon!
Last night the Dudesons arrived at the back of the pack - which seems to be the theme this year. If you can't beat the Dudesons to the checkpoint, then you must have taken the long route - that or you're navigationally inept!
After the Dudesons left their vehicle for the night, the Wu's struck again! The Dudesons' pig-mobile suddenly got addicted to Cocaine, which we can thank Team Wu for! Well, it was flour actually, but it sure did look convincing!
As morning came, the teams dashed for their cars and received their first route card. Time for breakfast!
Unsurprisingly, Team Hudson beat the other teams to the punch - arriving to the checkpoint first. Team Yeti and Team Big Easy Banditz arrived soon after.
After filling their bellies, they headed on to Reno-Fernley Raceway for some hot laps.
Who won the hot lap competition? We can't say - but Drake Kemper in the red 2013 Porsche 991 sure did have a good racing line! Team War Wagon in the Jeep Wrangler on the other hand had difficulty keeping up to Drake, and was the slowest car on the track. But we have to give Ryan and Aaron some credit - they came in 9th overall to the checkpoint. For two Bullrun rookies driving a Jeep, that's a very impressive feat!
It was soon time to hit the road for the next checkpoint.
A long haul too Boise, ID, got the drivers scrambling to their cars. Anyone who wanted to make it there before nightfall had to get on the road quickly and start planning their route.
Nevada was crawling with police - and not because the Bullrunners were doing anything wrong. Something about having stickers on your car seems to draw their attention. Hmmmm...
For Team Hudson, their first-place streak was cut to an end. During the long haul to Boise, the front splitter on the car came flying off.
First into the Boise, ID, end-of-day checkpoint was the Big Easy Banditz - Ricky, Billy and Shaun. Second to arrive was Wahe and Greg in the red 2012 Porsche 911 and third into the checkpoint was Bill Sheppard in the red 2011 Camera rental.
Another day of Bullrun 2012 down! Another party tonight - and another exciting day tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Day 2 of the Bullrun 2012 rally began with the smell of salt water and a cool morning breeze - San Francisco baby! The drivers partied it up last night at the Rouge Nightclub, and what a party it was! Yesterday's driving leg saw Seth and Tony of Team Hudson show up to the final checkpoint way ahead of the pack. This is not surprising because the due of Seth Rose and Tony King are looking to do the impossible and take home the Navigator Award for the second year in a row!
At 10:00 a.m. the drivers received their first routecard. They headed for UNDFTD headquarters in San Francisco to pick up some Bullrun freebies and collected their next routecard. The drivers were heading to a ferry crossing. Here at Bullrun, we like to throw a wrench in everyone's gears from time to time. We love ferries because they stir up a lot of trouble.
After finally getting accross the river, and getting their next route card, the drivers hit the road once more - heading to ??? Deapite a brief navigational blunder early on in the leg, last year's navigator champs, Seth and Tony, regained some ground by taking some side roads and landed themselves in second at the lunch stop.
After a bite to eat at the The Meadows golf club, the drivers hit the road in search of their next checkpoint in Lake Tahoe, CA. What the drivers didn't know was that in order to find their final destination of the day, they would need to ride a Jet Ski out into the lake to get the route card detailing the hotel for the night.
The final destination of the day was the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort. With a night to relax on the beach, the Bullrunners will have a chance to unwind before another crazy day on Bullrun tomorrow!
First into the checkpoint, of course, was the unstoppable duo of Seth Rose and Tony King. Second to arrive was Wahe and Greg in the red Porsche 911. Third was the Big Easy Banditz - Ricky and Billy.
Day 1 of the Bullrun Rally took the drivers from Los Angeles to San Francisco via a lunch stop at Pismo Beach, CA.
Thanks for the event posting Jimmy!
For those of you who are seriously thinking about doing Bullrun 2012, but have questions, feel free to e-mail info@bullrun.com to get some more info.
If you're interested in joining the rally, be sure to get your name in ASAP! We're currently registering teams for Bullrun 2012. If you don't want to miss out on the adventure of a lifetime, then join the most glamorous rally in the world today! Even if you can only do the first weekend of the rally, we can accomodate you for that, and have a special package for those who can only do the first two days (Saturday and Sunday) of the rally. Again, all inquiries should be directed to info@bullrun.com.
For additional details on the rally, visit http://bullrun.com/bullrun2012