Rally / Adventure
Peking to Paris
- 14,500 kmDistance
- 37 daysOn the road
- 1929Buick
What the rally is
The Peking to Paris is the oldest motor rally in the world, first run in 1907. It leaves Beijing and crosses Kazakhstan, ferries across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, then runs through Georgia, Turkey and Greece to reach Paris — 14,500 km over desert and mountain.
There is a classic class open only to cars built in 1929 or earlier. No modern safety equipment, no GPS navigation: you drive on a map and a compass. It is about as far as adventure rallying goes.
Beijing → Kazakhstan → Azerbaijan → Turkey → Paris approx. 14,500 km
Why she drove it
In 2022, when she was told she had breast cancer, the thought that arrived was: I do not want to put off the things I want to do.
Peking to Paris had been the dream for years. In treatment, and after a full mastectomy, she did not want to let it go. If anything the cancer pushed her towards it — if a life has a deadline, she decided, then none of it should be left unused.
In May 2024 she was on the start line.
37 days
Thirty-seven days, and not one of them predictable. A 1929 engine has moods, and it answered the desert heat and the mud without mercy.
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China
Starting from the Great Wall outside Beijing. Desert wind through the Gobi. Over 40°C, with dust taking the visibility away. There was no road and no GPS — only a map and a sense of where north was.
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Kazakhstan
Steppe and desert to the horizon, past the Aral Sea and on to Aktau, on the Caspian shore. I had not known a sky could be that wide.
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The Caspian Sea
A route change built specifically to avoid Russia: for the first time, the rally crosses the Caspian by ferry, classic cars and all, into Azerbaijan.
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Breakdowns
The engine stopped more than once. Parts for a 1929 car are not manufactured any more, so some days were spent rebuilding from nothing.
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Turkey to France
Georgia, Turkey, Greece, then a ferry to Italy. Running over cobblestones. As the finish came closer I kept thinking of the person who had stood at the start line, and thought: you got here.