Jacques Villeneuve and ICAR are proud to announce a new strategic partnership. Together, they are launching the Jacques Villeneuve Academy.

“Setting up my own, high-performance driving school is a great opportunity to give back to racing, mentions Jacques Villeneuve. I chose ICAR because of its ultramodern infrastructures and because their vision and their values perfectly aligned with my own. Along with ICAR, my goal is to transmit my passion for racing and to increase the quality of experience for all the racing fans from around the world, whether they are beginners or experienced professionals. The Jacques Villeneuve Academy will offer a wide range of programmes and packages for all budgets.

From novice race driving programmes to advanced high-performance driving courses as well as advanced defensive driving “Roadsafe” programmes.” “We are thrilled that Jacques Villeneuve chose to associate himself with ICAR to create the Jacques Villeneuve Academy. This partnership only confirms the key role ICAR plays in the development of motorsports in Québec,” says ICAR’s president, Marc Arseneau. “This partnership is key in establishing an internationally recognized high performance driving school.

With such a widely respected name as Jacques Villeneuve attached to our driving school, it is a source of pride and honour for our company,” explained Louis-Philippe Gélinas, ICAR vice president. Saturday May 2nd, ICAR will inaugurate its iKART center with its 1km karting track which was designed by Jacques Villeneuve and will also announce a series of major improvement to the facilities.

[Source: ICAR]

This morning was taking place the start of the Bullrun 2007 at the Place Jacques-Cartier in old Montreal, Qc. [450Performance.com] was there to take part to the festivities and get some pictures for you. The Bullrun 2007 is similar to the Gumball. This year drivers and co-pilots are driving from Montreal to Key West. The entrance fee for this rally is 17 500$. This way you are sure to see great cars. The rally ends May 18th. Make sure to take a look at the gallery we build for this event!

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Links:
http://www.bullrun.com
http://www.bullrun2007.com

Gumball 3000 is a rally that takes place each year with amazing cars, celebrities, wicked parties and all sort of adventures. This year for the 9th edition, the route is going from London to Asia and back to London in 8 days. Approximately 3000 miles for 120 supercars. The rally started last saturday (April 28th 2007) with a launch party and if all goes well the rally should finish on May 5th. The entrance fee for the 2007 rally is US$55,060 for first-time drivers. Amongs the cars and celebrities in the 2007 rally you can see Jay Kay with a Mazerati Quattroporte, Xzibit driving a Lamborghini, Ferraris (Enzo), Ford GT, Porsches (Carrera GT), Mercedes (Mclaren SLR), Bugatti Veyron, Rolls Royce Phantom and much more.

At this point of the rally, more than 70 cars were stopped by the German police. Some pilotes lost their driver’s licence for speeding. The rally should resume wednesday morning.

Update (May 3rd): For the first time in 9 years, the Gumball was ended prematurely following an accident involving participating drivers which killed Vladimir Cepulyoski a 67 years old Macedonian.

Some usefull links:
http://www.gumball3000.com
http://www.trackthegumball.com
http://www.metacafe.com/gumball3000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumball_3000#2007
http://www.gumball-live.com
http://www.johanmattson.com
http://www.gumball3000blog.com