Peking to Paris 2013 Update #11...Marching into Paris

6/ 28/ 2013- As we left Stanley and Brant in the last post, they were in the final day before reaching Paris. This post follows up on that, and includes Stanley's comments after they reach Paris, with an overview of the event.

"Long drive today....or after 30 days on the road they all seem long. Many of the cars are barely operating. Instead of doing the route and special stages they take the motorways directly from hotel to hotel. Not a lot of sport there, but they are desperate to hold their cars together and get to the Paris finish line tomorrow. On the other hand, we had our problems in Mongolia and since the car was fixed in Novosibirsk we've done most all of the stages, transits, etc. Today there were 10 Passage Controls and one Special Stage, a Gymkhana. We did them all."

© Photo courtesy of Tom Miller

 "We crossed the Swiss-French border late this afternoon and it was very easy. The Swiss waived us through and there was no one on the French side to even look at our passports. The highway system in France continues to amaze me; for a long time I have believed that France has the best roads in the world. As soon as you cross the French border you see vineyards everywhere. France continues to produce great wines and they don't all have to come from Burgundy or Bordeaux."

 

"The crews of competitors were almost 'giddy' tonight in the bar. They can taste Paris and can see the end of this ordeal."

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #10

The finish to drawing closer for our team and the early 911 is still running stong. What a difference in the landscape from the start in Peking to now in the Alps. Stanley reports with only two days left in this adventure:

Snow in the Swiss Alps today. Image © Stanley Gold

"Today was another great day. The ride was, in my opinion, the hardest since we left Mongolia."

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #9

The finish for the Peking to Paris adventure is closing in on our team of Stanley Gold and Brant Parsons in their '65 Porsche 911. Here's the latest report from Stanley.

6/26/2013 "The morning started, even before breakfast, with a run up the famous hill climb at Planai. The Stage was 8-km straight up a steep gravel road. After the run, breakfast was served in a rustic ski chalet with spectacular views of the valley and adjoining mountains."

 

"Then we were off on a half dozen mountain runs (20-30 miles straight up and then 20-30 miles straight down). Many of the heavy American cars elected to pass on these exercises as they are treacherous on brakes, transmissions and engines. They missed very beautiful views and homes that dot all of these roads. We even had some strange noises coming from our brakes and Brant is in the garage looking at the problem now."

"It is almost July here in Austria and Switzerland and there is still plenty of snow on the hillsides and passes."

 

Swiss countryside entering from Austria......in late June. Image © Stanley Gold

"The attitude of the crews has changed in the last couple of days. Paris is close and everybody is straining to keep there cars together to reach Paris. The drivers/navigators have become a serious lot. A few crews are still fighting for a podium finish, but for most of us reaching Paris is the prize."

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #8

Let's rejoin our Porsche team of Stanley and Brant on day 26.

6/22/2013 "We left our hotel in Kiev early for the short drive to the Seagull Circuit. This circuit was considerably better than the Belgordo Circuit in Russia. Each car was required to do approximately three laps as fast as the drivers could. Only thing strange about this test was that as we came to the finish line one had to stop the car "astride" the finish line with the front wheels of the car over the line and the rear wheels behind the finish line---failure to do so would cost a penalty point. For the car buffs, this is very similar to a Gymkhana, which is popular at some European events. One of the competitors who is running a '73 Toyota Land Rover has been driving for the last several days without front brakes and when he tried to stop astride the finish line he skidded 50 feet down the track---quite funny."

As we move west the crowds greeting us are getting larger; this was in Lviv.
Image © Stanley Gold

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #7

Stanley and Brant have made it though Russia and here's a little look back from Stanley.

6/18/2013- “Reminiscing about the hardship of Mongolia; the excitement and beauty of Siberia. We are now enduring the hard-slogging, long drives and scenery that all looks the same."

“Russia is big and continues to look more prosperous as we move west, still a sameness that borders on boring. No mountains, no valleys. We see only large plateaus, all growing wheat as far as the eye can see."

Several times a day we have to stop to allow livestock to cross the road; even on major roads. Image © Stanley Gold

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #6

We re-join our team after the car was trucked to the Russian Border and Brant was able to repair the left front strut in Novosibirsk. They are now making their way through Russia with apparently a fine running car. Stanley's report follows.

This is the truck that carried their Porsche from UB to Russia border, 1800km.
 Image © Stanley Gold

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #5

Our guys march on to the Russian border and beyond. Heres' Stanley's words.

"The last three days have been exhilarating, tiring, adventuresome and a little bit frustrating."

 

"After our failure to get an early visa entrance from the Russian Embassy, we decided we would leave UB in time to arrive at the Russian border station of Tashanta early on the morning of June 7 when my visa permitted us to enter Russia."

 

"So we left the Chinggas Khaan Hotel in UB at a few minutes after midnight on June 5, covered in the last post. We had two vehicles; a truck with the Porsche and a Toyota Land Cruiser for Brant and me to ride in. Both vehicles had two drivers and it was our plan to run "Banzai fashion" for 48-straight hours, no stopping except for gas and an occasional meal for the drivers at roadside huts. This meant that Brant and I would sleep in the Land Cruiser for two nights."

 

"The journey covered 1800 km over the worst surfaces I have ever driven. Less than 5% was tarmac. The rest was dirt paths; I do not mean dirt roads. These paths had potholes large enough for a swimming pool. Worst yet was the powdered sand. This sand is like lady's makeup, except it is 5 feet deep. There are no road signs, and after going through several mountain passes, one gets disoriented, even with a compass. Add to that a couple of river crossings, and it's becoming hard work."

Peking to Paris 2013 Update #4

As you may have read in the last post, Stanley Gold's and Brant Parson's 911 had a left front suspension failure during  the Gobi Desert part of the "Peking to Paris Motor Challenge." After considerable effort, they have arranged to truck the car into Russia and implement the repairs and then join back into the event. Here's the latest news from Stanley.

"We left Ulaan Baatar at midnight for a straight 48 hour (non-stop) run to the Russian border. The car is on a flat bed and Brant and I are in a Toyota Land Rover.....all the way on dirt tracks! If everything works out, we'll be at the border on the morning of June 7 when our visas are good."

Image © Stanley Gold

Peking to Paris 2013 Upate #2

The Stanley Gold, Brant Parsons adventure continues...

At 3,000 plus test miles prepping for the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, Brant commented, "I hope we have not worn out anything in the car!" Well, the time has come to take it to the street or dirt, which ever happens first.

The Porsche 911 was picked up at the port serving the Peking customs containment warehouse with the 100 other competitors cars. Just a side note, Stanley and Brant's car is one of two Porsche 911's in it's class, along with three Porsche 356's and three VW's.

The 100 entrants in the customs warehouse. Stanley and Brant's 911 in the lower left.

Peking to Paris Motor Challenge ...AKA. "Where the Asphalt Ends"

The "great Adventure" for Stanley Gold and Brant Parsons in the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge begins here. Well not really, it started about April, 2012 with the page on "Along for the Ride" at this link: Peking to Paris Build.

What started as an idea, lead to the building of a 1965 911, trips to San Diego's back country for testing and a pre-run rally through Canada into Alaska. But let's step back for a second.

Since the early adventurers first drove from Peking to Paris in 1907, "The Endurance Rally Association" has organized three further editions of this remarkable event, trekking through Inner Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, and into Paris, France. With this years event they will enter some of the most inaccessible countries and hostile environments in which to drive a car.

Stanley driving and Brant navigating the 1965 Porsche 911 next to the US/Mexico boarder fence testing in San Diego's back country. Image © Matt Parsons.

Trans-America Rally ... Replay

As the wet and wild trial rally hit the record books, Brant Parsons and his son, John, who did the navigating, took on the pre-run event in Canada and Alaska  as a "run it as hard as we can" affair. It was done to prove the car before Stanley Gold and Brant head for the Peking to Paris event in the 1965 Porsche 911. During this rally, they found they had four other 911s as company, two 1965 cars, a '69 911 and a '73 Carrera RS.

Image via Brant Parsons, ©  Gerard Brown .

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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Peking To Paris...Update

Here's an update and some shots from blog follower, Ahmet's 37 day adventure in the Peking to Paris Rally. I did a previous post on this event, here.

These are some interesting questions that they asked along the way, things they were usually confused about throughout the Rally:

- What day of the week it was
- The city they were in when they woke up in the morning
- The time difference with Turkey
- Local currencies
- The time of sunrise and sunset
- Changing weather conditions (ranging from -14 degrees in Mongolia to 41 degrees in Uzbekistan)

Gotta ask yourself...How did they finish with their Anadol?...Read on...

They set out with the Turkish flag in hand at the Great Wall of China! They reached Daihai after a six-and-a-half hour drive!!

Before they reached the Siberian border, their car got stuck in the sand!! It took them 45 mins to dig her out !!

In all 14,400 kilometers… These vehicles are used for maximum performance in the most difficult environmental conditions (they covered thousands of kilometers on ground that can hardly be called roads, including fields!!!), and the “mechanical problems” inherent in motorsports are unfortunately inevitable sometimes…

Five minutes after they started the last 200 kilometers to Paris, Ahmet noticed something odd with the oil pressure indicator. The needle should normally indicate 40 psi, but it had exceeded even the maximum value of 100 psi!!! Ahmet along with co-driver Erdal, discussed this problem, but since the engine water temperature was normal, they decided to continue and just keep an eye on the water temperature… Needless to say, they first got the important opinion of Serdar Bostanci, the creator of "Princess", the Anadol, on the phone!!!

But in the meanwhile, they couldn't help thinking, “Oh God, what will happen next?”… Naturally, this situation troubled both of them a great deal!!! Just think, Ahmet wrote, “It was the last morning and we were in the last 200 kilometers… What if it ended with disaster instead of second place?!!!” The heat was on…

And finally, the three leading cars of all three classes, the Anadol entered Paris in a convoy and headed for “Palace Vendome,” the square where the Ritz is located!!!

They took the car under the tag, stepped inside doors of the car amid applause and celebrated the result with Ahmet waving the Turkish flag…

The two winners parked their Anadol close by and hugged friends who had come to welcome them!!! Ahmet is on the left with co-driver Erdal on the right.

At the gala dinner, photographs and a film taken throughout the rally were shown… and then they received their trophies.

The Peking-Paris Rally includes only categories based on the age of the car. Since the special stage sections, which have a direct effect on the result, are mostly full of hills, choosing the car with the most powerful engine has a "one-hundred-percent effect" on one’s final success. If Ahmet were to enter an endurance race of this kind again, he would choose a car with an engine displacement of at least three liters.

When Organization President Philip Young presented them their award during the ceremony, Ahmet reports, hearing him say “We would like to congratulate the Turkish team who won second place with a Anadol and its small engine and power of less than 100 hp.” Ahmet most certainly did feel rewarded and it was worth all the difficulties they had put up with... Because their main target was bringing their Anadol, with the smallest displacement and power in its group, to Paris without breaking her during the race…

Ahmet sent some final thoughts on the Rally.

"Winning second place made us incredibly happy, and how did we achieve this success in this challenging race?"

"Car guru Serdar Bostanci, with his team, prepared the Princes in the best possible way for us." “THANKS A MILLION SERDAR!!!”

"The support of friends made us focus and zoom in to the end result right from the beginning of the project." “SO HAPPY AND GLAD THAT WE HAVE YOU OUT THERE!!!”

"Naturally, there were times when we had heated moments in the car... We were side by side for 37 days and nights after all but we never gave up on our teamwork..."

"And the last reason is very simple!!!"

"The angels of 250 students were with us and THEY ALWAYS PROVIDED US WITH LUCK, which was essential for our success."

They collected donations for these students - what an adventure!

To share a comment, link to the post at: http://www.johnstraub.blogspot.com/

On The Road...Peking To Paris

Blog follower Ahmet is hitting the road on the Peking to Paris Rally. He will be competing in the "2010 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge" trans-continental classic car endurance rally, which was first held in 1907.

His Anadol A1, the first volume produced Turkish car, prepared by Serdar Bostanci and his team, hit the road for China last week. Here is the web site to check out, http://www.pekindenparise.com/english.html

I started a post on this a few months when they were preparing the car for the "Peking to Paris" event with details of the car and Rally.

It seems that race car drivers always end up with the women.

The Anadol all dressed up and ready to go at the kick off reception.

You can follow them on the Internet by clicking on the links below.

During the Peking to Paris rally (http://www.pekindenparise.com/) his car will be equipped with a real-time GPS tracker from SkyTag. As of September 10th, you will be able to follow there progress on-line by clicking on the below link:
http://livetrack.skytag-gps.co.uk/login_action.html?user=pekingparis&passw=skytag&action=login&skip_auto=1&lang=en

To share a comment, link the post at: http://www.johnstraub.blogspot.com/

Peking To Paris 2010

Our friend Ahmet is getting his new car ready for the "Peking To Paris Rally". He sent some photos from Istanbul where the car is being readied.

He is using a 1967 Anadol; the first volume produced Turkish car. It has Ford Cortina mechanicals. The chassis, all suspension, engine, gearbox, back axle, etc. are brand new.

Here are some details of this event.

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 2010 event will go through places such as; the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Greece and Italy. The event dates are Sepember 10 to October 6.

Check out the Anadol

A body off rebuild.

I look forward to getting updates during the Rally to share.

Here is a link to more info about the event:
http://www.pekingparis.com/

Turkish Historic Championship

Fellow blog follower Ahmet Ongun with his Rally Car!

Ahmet sent me photos of his beautiful 1974 Ford Escort RS2000. It's a 2 Liter, 170 bhp car that weighs 900Kg. He is still competing in this car this year after winning the "Historic Sporting Championship" for 2008 and 2009......Ahmet is located in Istanbul, Turkey.

Congratulations are in order Ahmet!

Ahmet also has other cars that I'll be posting
in the future.

This is very cool...It's fun to make friends all over the world with this blog...There are "Car Guys" everywhere!