Beijing-Paris rally in transit
07/15/2016
The Beijing-Paris Rally is described as one of the last great adventures. The vehicles have to cover around 16,000 km in around 40 days. The long-distance race took place for the first time in 1907 and is currently underway again, with almost 120 teams in cars from the time of the first race (1920 to 1931), as well as later-built vehicles dating back to 1977.
Ingo Strolz and Werner Gassner, for example, are on the road in a 1917 La France Tourer Speedster with a 14.5-liter engine, while brothers Chris and Joe Dillier, who we reported on before the start, are driving a 1930 Chrysler 70 Roadster.
The latter are doing particularly well, as they currently occupy seventh place overall and third place in their class in the ranking of pre-1941 vehicles. At the top are Bruce and Harry Washington in a Chrysler 75 Roadster. Mark Pickering and Dave Boddy in one of the many Datsun 240Zs lead the classification of the newer cars.
In general, the field of vehicles is extremely diverse, from the Bristol 403 to the Alfa Romeo Giulia or Lancia Aurelia to the AMC AMX, there are many cars that you would not have expected to see on such a long-distance run.
Today, at any rate, the cars are driving through Switzerland according to plan, more precisely from St. Moritz to Lausanne (420 km), then tomorrow they will continue to Reims (485 km), where the comparatively short final stage to Paris (180 km) will take place on Sunday, where the winners will be celebrated. However, anyone who makes it there can actually feel like a winner, regardless of their position.
They will certainly have a lot to talk about, the tough men and women in their battered old cars ...
We will also be reporting on the rally. The results and many photos are available online.
Pictures: Gerard Brown
