Peking to Paris 2010

History

“Is there anyone who will agree to travel this summer from Pekin to Paris by automobile?” Le Matin Newspaper, 31 January 1907

In 1907 five teams of intrepid motorists embarked upon the most gruelling motor challenge at that time – to drive their cars in a run from Peking to Paris.

Gypsy 1903 Mercedes When the popular Parisian newspaper, Le Matin, first announced the challenge the proposal was laughed at by most of the experts and the motoring press as both impossible and ridiculous.

Nevertheless, on 10 June 1907, five pioneering motorists answered the call for what was the longest, most brutal auto race to date. Their eight thousand mile plus route lay across China, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, Poland and Germany consequently into France – almost all of it entirely road less even by 1907 standards. Much of it passing over mountain ranges and trackless deserts was completely unknown. Read more

One hundred years on, 21 May 2007, and 133 cards took part in a re-enactment of this run – including Tim Scott in ‘Gypsy’ his beloved 1903 Mercedes, the oldest car ever to partake in the challenge. What unfolded is a story too incredible for fiction…nights camping alone in the Gobi Desert, intense cold and blazing heat, driving through shard like sand storms and even having an encounter with a roaming cow! Tim, John and Gypsy successfully arrived five arduous weeks later, Saturday 30 June, to a celebratory fanfare in Paris. It is still a story to make the most ardent trial enthusiast shudder!

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