Creator, entrepreneur, and founder of the notorious 'Gumball 3000' rally!
Born: 7th June 1972
Nationality: British
Inspired by Richard Branson on one level, and Frederico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick on another, Maximillion's unique passion for exploring life, and constantly creating and combining the conventional with the obscure can be seen through his diverse exploits in everything from racing cars to film making, and designing clothes to skateboarding; and his fascination with both popular and abstract cultures undoubtedly began at an early age under the influence of having an eccentric father who paints larger than life canvasses and once bashed the drums for a living!
Teenage years were spent pushing the boundaries of both traditional sports and underground street cultures, and by 18, four skateboard wheels had turned into the wheels of a motorcar, giving rise to a semi professional career racing sportscars and his first glimpse of the jet-set lifestyle, rubbing shoulders with some of the worlds millionaires. However, still more obsessed by urban culture, design and image creating than making money, in the early 90s he decided to attend the prestigious St. Martins College of Art & Design in London (where his peers included Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney), allowing him to be creative during the week, becoming part of the fashionable 'cool britannia' London social scene, leaving the weekends free to burn rubber on the race track.
This combination of art, sport and the social scene continued for the next 5 years, and by 25 he had competed in motor racing championships throughout the world, had been comissioned to design for leading fashion brands, and was an ever present contributor to London's creative media. From a love of the arts and an increasing disillusionment with the 'corporate' racing world came his first entrepreneurial manoeuvre in an attempt to combine the two. Somewhat amusingly whilst still at college and living under the duress of a friends floor, he found enough private financial support from his wealthy race world relationships to make a bid to buy a Formula 1 race team for $20 million, with a vision and dream to create the most stylish rock 'n' roll racing team ever, and shake up the 'corporate' motor industry.
Sadly, Lucky Strike put pay to this audacious attempt (the team is now called British American Racing), although the seed had been planted and the entrepreneurial concepts continued to flow, allowing for a perhaps unexpected but seemless transition in the academics to immediately follow St. Martins by embarking on a law degree at Sussex University. Upon graduation in 1998, and the refusal to let go of his vision, the dream to create a concept that combined the talents and diversities of his passions, but more importantly to create something unique and aspirational that would appeal to his eclectic and eccentric peers, the idea of 'Gumball 3000' began to take shape; an adventure that Steve McQueen would have loved. Stylish, colourful, and wild!
So in the spring of '99 he invited 55 of his friends and acquaintances, from billionaire bankers, race car enthusiasts to eccentric fashion designers (several friends from St. Martins were by now heading up the worlds leading fashion houses at Dior, Gucci and Prada), to old skateboard friends (Tony Hawk was becoming a legendary name), to Johnny Knoxville, who's own Jackass world was about to explode onto the US public, all to attend his private party; although this was no normal "party", and happened to last 6 days and included everyone driving their own cars 3000 miles around Europe, no matter whether new Ferrari or beat up 60s Cadillac (Knoxville's, of course), stopping off at race circuits and beautiful chateau's for parties each night along the route. With Maximillion the host, and Vivienne Westwood the creator of racing overalls for everyone, its unique cocktail of cars and characters, with rock stars rubbing shoulders with aristocrats, and supermodels hanging out with skateboarders, billionaires, film stars and eccentrics alike, the style and party pages were rife with material. Guy Ritchie, Monica Lewinsky and Kate Moss were among those who attended the first party, and Max shared the wheel of his Lotus sportscar with fellow racing enthusiast and one time star of Beverly Hills 90210 fame, Jason Priestley, along the route.
The success of this party, or indeed first aptly named 'Gumball 3000' Rally achieved the desired effect, with an instant cult following from skateboarders to billionaires, the headlines hit throughout the media; Vogue magazine called the event 'The most glamorous rally ever', whilst car industry bible 'Autosport' said 'It was more like a rock 'n' roll tour than a rally!' and Big Brother skateboard magazine said "You cannot rage harder than Gumball, its awesome!"
7 years later and the 'Gumball 3000' Rally has cemented itself as an annual fixture in both the sporting and social calendars, both traditional and underground, is featured on everything from MTV to CNN, and regularly graces the pages of Vanity Fair to FHM, producing a different 3000 mile adventure each year, each one more ground breaking and unconventional than the last, creating a global brand synonymous with notoriety, fun, style, rock 'n' roll, and most importantly to Max, that it is still breaking new ground and continues to be both inspirational and aspirational to all of its fans; from the kid in the street that collects the Gumball trading cards and has a decal on his skate deck, to the rock star that drives a Rolls-Royce Phantom and wants to take part in the race.
Insistent that the rally remains true to its original concept and style, and representative of 'popular and immerging cultures', Maximillion, along with his beautiful Danish wife, Julie, (he proposed on the third rally in 2001 whilst they drove an AC Cobra to St. Petersburg) are building the 'Gumball 3000' brand into becoming a major commercial powerhouse; and amidst all of this they have remarkably found the time to start a family, and have two daughters, Lotus and Jagger, and a son called Cash.
So as far as empire building, making movies, designing clothes and and bring peace and colour to the world (amongst other things), he has only just begun!
For more information, please contact the Gumball 3000 HQ on T: 00 44 (0)20 7229 5865 or via www.gumball3000.com.
