The final day arrived for “Sahara Challenge 2022,” the twelve-day, 4,800 km warm-up we entered ahead of Peking to Paris.
I've kept a daily record on the blog from day one all the way through day twelve, so I hope reading back through it lets you feel like you drove this brutal challenge alongside us too.
This event, one challenge on the road toward Peking to Paris, was meant as a test run for the real thing, but it turned into a brutal challenge that felt just like the real deal.
In the end, our 1929 challenge car, the Buick, retired on day ten, but having decided I was going to drive this carrying so much support with me, I'd also decided I was going to see it through, all the way to the very last finish.
Reaching the finish in a motorsport event without your car — unheard of, right?… (laughs)
I got to the finish hotel to watch everyone else come across the line, and took a short break.
Twelve days, together with the “support T-shirt” a friend cheering me on had made.
“Is your life shining beautifully?”
Those were the words printed on that T-shirt, and everything I'd reached, up to here, thanks to crowdfunding support. And now… what's left of the funds is basically this much (ugh).
For the next real event, Peking to Paris, it's back to rebuilding the plan from scratch, and recharging the drive!
No regrets, no dwelling on it, but I really do need to prepare far more thoroughly!
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A step ahead of everyone else, I collected the number plate removed from our retired car. I also received a memento from the organizers.
Competitors and cars kept streaming across the finish, one after another… some had retired too, of course, and some, like us — people who never intended to sneak across this finish line after retiring — had gone home without even waiting for it.
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And of course, the traditional gift sent to the winner!
Please enjoy this part in the video.
Even having retired ourselves, we celebrated everyone's finish with everything we had!
And then, what do you know!!
From the fellow competitors we'd fought alongside… “you two should cross the finish too! Run it, and finish!”
That's the proposal they gave us!!
So! We ran, and we finished. And I sent the video back to everyone in Japan who'd been cheering us on!
Hardship always comes with the territory in world-class competition, in any challenge, but each and every one of these adventures brought irreplaceable smiles into my life.
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Getting a Japanese entrant into the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2024 was never going to be simple.
The countless entry-request emails I kept sending, flying to England to negotiate with the organizers in person.
Cultural differences, language differences, all sorts of obstacles — but I hope the passion, and the Japanese spirit behind it, got through regardless…
Finishing matters, of course, but what matters most is never giving up, all the way to the end!
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We came away with no trophy, no plaque, having retired, but this challenge left us with a passion for having run it all, and a great many memories carved in.
The real Peking to Paris Motor Challenge finally starts in May 2024!
The journey is still far from over…
I'd be genuinely happy if you kept running alongside this life of mine, going forward too.