The organisers’ monthly report has arrived.
Since the second half of September I have been thoroughly in the dark,
so the blog has been slow to restart.
I will write about that another time.
Behind the scenes, the road to the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge has been harder than anyone imagined.
There was news about the plan for avoiding the effects of the fighting in Azerbaijan,which lies on our route.
Leaving Peking on 18 May 2024, we reach the Kazakh shore of the Caspian on 6 June, two weeks in, and camp there for the night.
On the morning of the 7th the cars are loaded onto a chartered ferry — and cross the Caspian with them.
The ferry carrying the cars berths on the Azerbaijani coast on 8 or 9 June (depending on crossing time and weather), where the cars are unloaded, cleared through customs and collected.
While the cars are at sea, we fly on a charter from Aktau to Baku and spend three nights in a hotel in the centre of the city.
That Sunday is planned as an additional rest day, and with the cooperation of the Baku City Circuit our rally cars will be parked in central Baku, next to the Formula One pit lane and track.
The Baku City Circuit is a street circuit running through the historic centre of Azerbaijan’s capital.
It is 6.003 km long with twenty turns — a distinctive track.
On the morning of 10 June 2024 we leave Baku again.
The next task is to finish a new route across Inner Mongolia, working with the local motorsport federation.
So the organisers are still taking on challenges of their own.
And as for us:
in November 2023 we flew to England for the final competitors’ briefing, and confirmed the further tasks and preparation at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
I will write that up separately.
Why go all the way there for a meeting that was also held online?
The main reason was to show the organisers we meant it, and to communicate in person with the other entrants, which I believe makes 37 long days of challenge go far more smoothly.
“Connection between people is proportional to the distance and time you put in.”
Look out for the report on a very worthwhile meeting.
There are already short videos about it on TikTok.
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The final competitors’ meeting report
A click on the banners below
would be a great help.
Komochan will cry with joy.
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Motorsport ranking
Classic and vintage car ranking
Illness diary ranking