May 5, 2012
PEKING TO PARIS
In 1907 a Paris newspaper challenged the sporting men of the world to dare the impossible: Drive a motorcar from Peking (now Beijing) to Paris.
The automobile was still a novelty and such an idea was brash, reckless, even ludicrous, yet five teams rose to the challenge. With no rules, no maps and many times no roads, they slogged their way across the immensity of Asia where no motorized vehicle had ever gone before. After more than 9,300 miles and nearly three months afield, Prince Borghese of Italy was the first to cross the finish line.
It was a sensation. At the time such as feat was akin to when Armstrong first stepped onto the moon. By sheer determination aided by technology and sweat, frontiers had been rendered meaningless and man had conquered triumphant.
In response to Prince Borghese’s big win, the color of his Itala car (which had been painted a brazen and "distasteful" red) was adopted as the official racing color of Italy – one that’s been famously worn by Grand Prix and F1 cars to this day.
Next year, in May 2013, the Peking to Paris challenge will once again take place. Open to vehicles of various vintages and classes, the route (much of it on dirt tracks) will roughly follow the original – across China, Mongolia, Siberia, the steppes of Russia and into Europe – with a duration of 33 days. Entries are limited, the deadline near, and, with advance preparation an absolute necessity, contestants will need all the time they can get.
The automobile was still a novelty and such an idea was brash, reckless, even ludicrous, yet five teams rose to the challenge. With no rules, no maps and many times no roads, they slogged their way across the immensity of Asia where no motorized vehicle had ever gone before. After more than 9,300 miles and nearly three months afield, Prince Borghese of Italy was the first to cross the finish line.
It was a sensation. At the time such as feat was akin to when Armstrong first stepped onto the moon. By sheer determination aided by technology and sweat, frontiers had been rendered meaningless and man had conquered triumphant.
In response to Prince Borghese’s big win, the color of his Itala car (which had been painted a brazen and "distasteful" red) was adopted as the official racing color of Italy – one that’s been famously worn by Grand Prix and F1 cars to this day.
Next year, in May 2013, the Peking to Paris challenge will once again take place. Open to vehicles of various vintages and classes, the route (much of it on dirt tracks) will roughly follow the original – across China, Mongolia, Siberia, the steppes of Russia and into Europe – with a duration of 33 days. Entries are limited, the deadline near, and, with advance preparation an absolute necessity, contestants will need all the time they can get.
You have one year to the starting line, gentlemen!
Update - July 2012 - Bench & Loom co-founder Jared Zaugg was going to participate in the epic 2013 Peking to Paris Rally on a Ural motorcycle. That is, until the sanctioning body decided motorcycles will not be allowed. Many thanks nonetheless to Jon Bekefy of IMZ Ural Motorcycles.
Comments
I want in. Anyone putting together a team and need a man please let me know.
Teddy - 1 years ago