Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, Day 36.
22 June 2024.

The Paris finish is finally tomorrow!

But our Buick was still inside the workshop.
The big job that had run on since yesterday.
It was like being in the middle of heart surgery.

The part had arrived. Even so, we still could not run — the ring gear that had come by miracle from New York.

We couldn’t find it. There was no way we’d find it.
And even if we did, would it really arrive?
After all that time, the part was finally in front of us.

This time, I thought, it would be fitted smoothly.

But… it did not go that way.

The broken ring gear would not come off.

My partner is a 1929 model. A car built almost 100 years ago.
In a sense, a big lump of iron.

The new part was right here. And yet unless the old part could be removed, it could not be replaced.
Trial after trial.
How many more must we get over…

In the midnight workshop, no one gave up

Sparks flew from a big machine.
Were they trying to cut it off?

No… we must not break it. Carefully, carefully.

Even though it was already midnight, one person after another kept gathering.

Italian flew back and forth. I could not make out those words.
But from the strategy meeting taking place before my eyes, something came across.

Not one person had given up.

They were trying to do something about our car.
The Paris finish was right there.
Even so, unless this part came off, we could not go further.

What I remembered while waiting at the workshop The road we had raced down from Peking to here
came to mind like a revolving lantern.

Deserts. Rough roads. Nights when I could not sleep for days.
Desert storms. Myself, covered in mud and sand under the blazing sun. I even got heatstroke… Days of tears, and more tears.
Even so, I wanted to somehow get my reports to the people supporting me in Japan.
I kept taking photos and videos, and kept sending out my diary.

What was I running for? The answer slowly became clearer inside me.

What is a dream? No… I had forgotten.
Five months ago, I had been facing my life in cancer surgery.

Days so full that I had forgotten even the wound from that surgery.

The journey so far. The adventure so far.
Every time the car stopped, we met people who helped us.
The warmth of people I touched in eight countries.
When we could do nothing by ourselves, again and again we were lent a hand.

And even now, in this workshop. Many people were giving their all for our car.

To the very last, people’s love was warm.

Before dawn, the sound of the engine rang out

And then, in the early morning before the sun rose.
The repair was done!
The engine roared. Seen off by everyone at the workshop, the Buick slowly rolled outside. My partner, who until yesterday we did not even know could run, was moving.

Towards the Paris finish, now one day away.

We could run again!

. Even after the part arrived, it was a night that was anything but easy.
It was thanks to everyone who kept working without giving up to the end.
To everyone who supported our departure. Thank you so much!

Time and again, for days, we were separated from the main group.
Driven into situations where retirement crossed my mind, each time we kept chasing without giving up.

Above all, the border was the hardest.
Time is the one thing that has a limit.

Impatience and anxiety mixed together, and my chest tightened.
How many times had I lived through such moments?

There were many days when the car would not move and we went on with the help of a transporter truck.

Even so, now. I am heading for Paris with this Buick.

Now that we’ve come this far, we can even push our way forward!

Last night, the part would not come off and it was a huge job. Yet within the same journey, there is a picture like this too.

The smiles of friends just before the finish.
Now that we’ve come this far, we can even push our way forward!
The finish is right there.

I too took off my muddy uniform and had a commemorative photo taken with everyone.

From the big job at the workshop to this time standing side by side with friends. The day before the finish, too,
was a day packed with all sorts of things.
Tomorrow, at last, the finish in Paris.

The last day of a Peking to Paris I had spent more than five years preparing for.

With my partner the Buick, to the finish.
Only one day left.
To be continued in Day 37…