One of the reasons we made the special trip to England in November 2023 was that we needed to check on the restoration and improvement of the car we're fighting alongside.
Our car had been kept and maintained in England, going through the process again and again.
 |
 |
In 2020, the COVID shock brought the workshop to a stop, and neither test runs nor maintenance were possible — and even so, thanks to the weak yen, the costs just kept climbing.
What state was it in, what should we do about it… all I had to go on was clumsy English emails, spending anxious months and years, and just as the 2022 test run finally came together, the wheel and brake problems hit.
The report where a light finally, finally appeared is here ↓
Escaping the pinch! — giving up on giving up
…and so, safely! With a direction settled, and less than half a year left before the real event, the revival drama of this 1929 pre-war car begins from here.
When we arrived… what left me speechless was that it was still all in pieces (ugh).
But! The explanation of the revival to come from here was genuinely impressive… well, assuming it actually gets finished (laughs). At this point, all I can do is believe, and hope believing is rewarded.
We gave up on the wooden wheels and decided to switch to lightweight, sturdy aluminum ones, but of course — being a pre-war car — matching parts simply couldn't be found, a full year of agonizing over it, and in the end we had to build them from scratch!
To check how the wheel parts fit together, we used 3D printing to confirm the parts' positioning before building them — a genuine fusion with modern technology!!!
(The light-blue parts are the 3D-printed ones, used to check the fit, with the final metal parts to be machined from them)
With less than half a year left before the real Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2024.
Come back to life! Can this pre-war classic car's revival drama actually happen!
At this point, all we can do is entrust the car to this team! Even the driver managed a slightly relieved smile.
There's still so much preparation left from here, so we're setting down one weight off our shoulders and getting back to running again.
By this point, my mental training has honestly gotten quite the workout too (laughs).
80% of preparation is what really matters!!
Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2024… the challenge continues…
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end!
This blog records absolutely everything that happens along the way of this challenge, not just the material, physical difficulties, but exactly as it is.
Falling and falling, and never giving up, always getting back up and moving forward — I hope this path, reaching beyond the world of motorsport,
can, as a life, connect to someone else's strength or courage out there.
There's a reason November 2023 ended up so packed with events — I had surgery to remove the cancer in December. Whatever “pain… pain… pain…” hits along the way of this challenge, I mean to laugh it off with a “heh heh heh…” and keep moving forward!
Please do keep enjoying updates across all sorts of social media too!
Please give the banner below a little
click of support.
Komo-chan will cry tears of joy m(_ _)m
↓↓↓
Motorsport ranking
Classic car ranking
Illness-journey blog ranking