The Gumball Rally rumbled into London for the first leg of the inter-continental journey. Stretching over 3000 miles and taking eight days to complete, the stars were seen revving up their engines in Piccadilly, London today.

Stars from the celebrity world taking part this year included; Xzibit, Eve, Jodie Kidd, Caprice, Michael Madsen, DJ Muggs, Jade Jagger, Idris Elba, Tony Hawk.

The rally departed from London today, May 1 before visiting Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Boston, Quebec City, and Toronto and will end in New York on May 7.

The pre party event was held in The Crypt in St Martins Lane, Covent Garden. Rapper Eve and Xzibit arrived at 10.30pm and left early. However Eve confided that she was feeling a little worse-for wear and refused to take off her sunglasses the next day.

Xzibit however nearly missed the photo-cal as he was spotted signing autographs several miles away from the start.

Suffering from a sprained ankle from playing football Idris Elba (Striger Bell The Wire) arrived at the event on crutches. It took Idris several minutes to get into his car.

Wearing African print leggings, Egyptian bangles and chequered finger nails, Eve added a touch of star quality to this event.

Donning a pair of wedged Cubans complete with gold crusted sovereigns on her fingers, Eve formed part of an all-female line-up of drivers.

Driving a Bentley convertible GT, Eve made sure that at today’s event the Car was most definitely NOT the biggest star on show today.

The firt leg of the Gumball Rally 2010 departed from London at 14.30pm GMT