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But first, I had to survive my first night of the Rally...

We arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas and after a very noisy and enjoyable meal being serenaded by The Cult (yes, they're still going) I made a quick but profitable foray onto the Blackjack tables trying not to get distracted by the scantily clad dancers gyrating just behind the croupiers.

There was supposedly a Gumball VIP party in one of the Hard Rock's nightclubs but when I popped in it was bereft of Gumballers and stiflingly hot and stuffy so I went to bed relatively early.

 In deference to the anticipated hangovers that Sin City was predicted to deliver, the starting time the next day was pretty late at 11am and it was only a short drive to the awe-inspiring Hoover Dam.

 It was bakingly hot in the traffic queue to get down to the Dam and I was impressed with the modified GT-R’s ability to keep cool in 99 degree temps. Strangely, the Texan Veyron (the other one was from Dubai) had to pull over to cool down despite its famed 10 radiators.

The sheer scale of the dam is staggering and I'm pleased we had a chance to drive across it before the (almost equally amazing) bypass flyover is completed.

Art deco civil engineering magnificence visited, we then got our next route card which directed us to Sedona, Arizona.

Unfortunately that journey was interrupted - thankfully during one of Jon's driving stints - when there was a loud thump underneath the car as if we'd run over something, the carbon bonnet jerked upwards slightly and a loud rubbing sound came from the front of the car.

When Jon pulled over onto the gravel verge, I surveyed the damage. The beautiful (and expensive) aftermarket carbon fibre front splitter had come off and was dragging on the ground, held on by just a couple of rivets.
Almost immediately a fellow Gumball car pulled over to help; an Infiniti Coupe driven by brothers Dave and Darren Mauch. Ironically, what is the Infiniti sold as in Japan? A Nissan Skyline...

Darren, who has worked on many a car, was immediately on his back on the hot gravel, helping to fully detach the damaged splitter and skilfully tie-wrapping the unsupported undertray to keep it from catching the airflow and dragging on the ground.

We were then left with the problem of how to take the splitter with us as it was too big to fit in either car, especially as both were laden with a week's luggage for two.
Eventually we flagged down another Gumball vehicle, the massive Monster Energy Drink sponsored Chevy mobile home driven by snowboarding champion Danny Kass. They had room to spare and happily agreed to take the splitter to our next stop for us.

Our relief upon reaching the idyllic hotel resort in Sedona was tangible, although Jon was visibly upset by his car's damage.

The next morning, the Gumball crew helped locate a local workshop which could help re-attach the splitter. I grabbed a lift in the Infiniti with Darren whilst Dave stayed with Jon to supervise the repair.
I wanted a lift to the next stop because I was keen to see it: the Grand Canyon. I've helicoptered into it before, but it is even more impressive when standing on the rim, so I'm glad I made the checkpoint.

Because the repairs took a while, Jon and the GT-R didn't quite drive all the way to the Canyon and we rendez-vous-ed at a nearby McDonalds to swap back to our designated cars. The GT-R's splitter looked very securely remounted so everyone's spirits were up.

Things were to improve further for Megazilla as we finally found some decent 93 PON (98RON) gas and Jon put a squirt of octane booster in too. I was astounded that within seconds of driving away from the fuel stop, the car felt totally different. Vastly more alert and responsive, the engine pulled like a locomotive through all the gears, with that uncanny GT-R feeling of it getting ever-more powerful in each successive gear but times two.
This was more like it! I couldn't believe the difference higher octane fuel made; it felt like Jon had surreptitiously bolted another turbo or two on when I wasn't looking.

Just a few seconds of sustained acceleration had us up to unprintable speeds, but then we rounded a corner of the highway and saw the Texan Veyron and two Gumball Porsche turbos not only pulled over by the cops, but with recovery vehicles turning up to impound them...

Suitably sobered, I eased the speed back down and set the cruise control at what I thought was a reasonable 89mph whilst keeping an even more alert eye and ear on Jon's excellent Valentine 1 radar detector.

Unfortunately, one of Arizona's Highway Patrol was a skilled hunter and hid his interceptor behind an overpass pillar; when we were less than 100 yards away he zapped me with instant-on radar which gives no warning.

As soon as the Valentine 1 blared, I knew he had me and watched with resignation as he turned onto the road behind us and put the dreaded red and blue lights on. After warning me that "91mph is enough to get you sent to jail" (maybe the non-standard wheels gave a little speedo error on the cruise control?), I got off with a standard ticket that subsequently cost me $371. I let Jon take the rest of the stint to Santa Fe...

The next day's leg was a long schlep to Dallas, well over 600 miles and it did not start well when I spotted a large oil leak coming from underneath the engine. Jon was very nonchalant about it and simply topped it up with fresh Mobil 1, but when I noticed blue smoke and a fluctuating oil pressure gauge, I insisted on pulling over. To our horror, the dipstick didn't even register and we decided the car couldn't be driven any further...

So, was this the end of our Gumball adventure? Find out in Part 3 coming soon!