Peking To Paris Motor Challenge 2013 ... True Grit!

In 2010, "Along For The Ride" followed Ahmet in his Turkish built 1967 Anadol as he tackled and finished the "2010 Peking To Paris Rally." Now, back to the present, the blog is going along for the ride with owner of Shamrock Racing's, Stanley Gold and Shamrock's Director of Operations and good friend, Brant Parsons as they prepare to take on the 2013 Peking To Paris. They're using a 1965 Porsche 911, the first 911 to compete in this event. If you frequent vintage racing events, you've probably seen Stanley participating in one car or another, choosing from his 356, 911s, a 910, a RS 60 to a 904 with great success.

The team will first tackle the Trans-America Rally from New York to Anchorage running the second leg from Vancouver to Anchorage as a pre-run for the car, this coming May. So come along with the blog on this lifetime adventure.

The '65 911 as it's being prepared. Image © "Along For The Ride"

A little history on the Peking to Paris Rally. In 1907 the first-ever trans-Continental motorcar Rally between Peking and Paris became an epic challenge. Five cars set out from Peking, four made it to Paris to a tumultuous welcome and world-wide fame...they had set out to confirm that man and car could now go anywhere, they hoped it would make borders between countries redundant. They had left Peking with no passports – these had been confiscated by Chinese authorities who suspected they were spies, and had no interest in seeing the success of the motorcar having just invested in shares in the trans-Siberian railway.

Now to the relative current time. The second Peking to Paris was not held until the summer of 1997, with the first-ever rally for classic and vintage cars to cross China, and the first-ever rally to cross Tibet...and camping at the foot of Mount Everest. They also cracked open the border between Tibet and Nepal. The border at Friendship Bridge between Tibet and Nepal had been closed for 40 years since it was slammed shut by Chairman Mao. However, in 1997 the Peking to Paris organizers negotiated the re-opening, and it remains open today. They drove on into India and Pakistan, and were the first rally to cross Iran since the 1977 London to Sydney Marathon. Of 96 cars that set out, all but nine made it to the celebrations in Place de la Concorde.

The 2013 event will go through places such as; the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland and into France. The event dates are May 28-June29, 2013.

The blog has a separate page entitled "Peking To Paris Motor Challenge 2013 Build" listed just below the header, here. You can read the full story on the build by clicking on the link. Check back on this separate page to see the build along with photos as it progresses and to follow them along on both rallies.

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