With so much support from Japan behind me, I could take one more step in this challenge, and I am grateful for it from the heart!
For the full detail of this challenge, do have a look here.
The warm-up for the challenge staked on a life, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge! Warm-up or not, it still runs 4,800 km over twelve days, from Spain into Morocco, to test us under similar conditions to the real thing.
The morning of the start finally arrived, with a fierce sunrise that seemed to be telling us: “fire up and drive through!!”
A morning that handed us its energy.
Before the start, I finished a Facebook Live stream and told everyone in Japan cheering me on: “here we go!!!”
And this T-shirt — named the supporters’ shirt, made for me by a friend. I had four of them ready for this, to drive through the twelve days!
This Sahara Challenge was, of course, a mandatory entry ahead of the 14,000 km, 37-day Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, so everyone taking part is also entered in the main event. Naturally, our team was the only one from Japan. Abroad —
France, Italy, England, America — every country was mixed in together.
At the breakfast venue before the start I met this couple, who had already driven Peking to Paris themselves — their outfits were lovely, so I had to take a photo!
I will be sharing more of their story later — a fierce battle in the desert with this Porsche of theirs!
And footage of the start itself is up on YouTube too.
Twelve days, 4,600 km, starting right here! Nobody could have imagined, at this point, what drama was waiting for us.
Driving on to Málaga, Spain, from where we would cross into Morocco.
Day one’s route is here: first, 363 km to the ferry terminal in Spain.
That 363 km was less a public road than what is called dirt — rough, uneven, unmaintained track — so it was a genuinely hard stretch right from day one.
From Málaga, Spain, to Morocco, we cross the border by ferry!
To think I would never have had an experience like this if I had never found motorsport!
I was excited for this first-ever crossing into Morocco!
The rest continues here!
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