One of the last great adventures: the rally from Beijing to Paris
03/25/2016
Clärenore Stinnes (21.1.1901 - 7.9.90) was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist from Mühlheim an der Ruhr. She could afford to be a racing driver and was relatively successful at it. Her dream of being the first woman to circumnavigate the world in a production car prompted her to order three untested, brand-new Adler 6s and set off on her great journey in 1927. Together with the Swedish cameraman Carl-Axel Söderström (two other companions had to abandon the journey early), they achieved the impossible and reached their destination in 1929: Berlin. They brought home brilliant film footage from the trip, of which a feature film was planned from the outset. However, the film was not finished until years later and therefore failed to reach its goal of a large audience. From today's perspective, the footage is absolutely sensational and reveals the huge problems faced by the troops as well as the incredible robustness of the Adler vehicles on their almost impossible journey.
The first rally from Peking to Paris started 20 years earlier in 1907. The idea for the 16,000 km race came from the Parisian newspaper Le Matin, which published the following invitation on January 31, 1907: "What remains to be proven today is that as long as a man has a car, he can do anything and go anywhere. Is there anyone who will undertake a journey by automobile from Peking to Paris this summer"?
40 teams registered for the race, 5 of which ultimately made the journey to Beijing. Although the race had already been canceled, it still went ahead. The "race cars" left the Chinese capital at 8:00 a.m. on June 10. There were no rules or maps for the race. The winner was simply the first car to reach Paris. The winner's prize, a magnum bottle of Mumm champagne, went to the Italian Prince Scipione Borghese with his two companions, chauffeur and mechanic Ettore Guizzardi and reporter Luigi Barzini from the "Corriere della Sera".
Six years ago, the rally from Beijing to Paris was revived for historic automobiles. Today everything is a little easier, thanks to roads and Google Maps, mobile phones and hotels. Nevertheless, it is definitely an adventure with more or less great feats of strength for all participants, as preparations have to begin at least a year before the start. A suitable car not only has to be found, but also prepared for the long journey on more or less bad roads. The spare parts logistics have to be planned and and and...
In the meantime, the participants' cars have already started their journey to Beijing. However, the race will not start for another three months, on June 12.
Among the 120 or so participants this year will be the Central Swiss team with Christian Dillier (58, pictured right) and Beppi Dillier (59, pictured left) from Sarnen in the canton of Obwalden. They will be making the long journey of around a month in their 1930 Chrysler 70.
