London to Peking Motor Challenge was a one-off rally car organized by Jules Verne Society in the Spring of 1990.
As its name implied, the rally consisted of drives from London, England to Peking, China. Peking is now officially known as Beijing , but the old name was used, when the rally traced courses encouraged by the Italian Prince Scipione Borghese, mechanic Ettore Guizzardi and journalist Luigi Barzini in the Peking race to Paris in 1907 (before the change name). The 1990 rally ran in the opposite direction as the 1907 line, heading west-to-east.
Video London to Peking Motor Challenge
Origins
In March 1907, Parisian newspaper Le Matin issued a challenge for anyone to drive from Peking to Paris in cars. Five teams; four French, and one Italian accepted the challenge. So start the first and most famous international car rally in early automotive history.
Barzini had written a popular book about his adventures, being the first to arrive in Paris, but a decade later, the Soviet Union closed the route used by Barzini. With the glasnost and perestroika of the last days of the Soviet Union, the time seemed right for a new journey.
Maps London to Peking Motor Challenge
1990
The 1990 course went from west to east along different lines from Barzini and his team in 1907.
Starting from Marble Arch in London, the drivers were given leave by Luigi Barzini's grandson. The driver crosses the Channel at P & amp; O Ferry to France. From there, drivers can take their chosen path across Europe before reuniting in Istanbul, Turkey. After that, the route across Turkey to the border with the Soviet Union in Georgia today, became the first time in Soviet history that western civilians were allowed to drive their own vehicles into the country. A ferry crossing the Caspian Sea took drivers to today's Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, before entering China, across the Gobi Desert and arriving in Beijing on June 4, 1990, by chance the first anniversary of the persecution of the Tian'anmen demonstrators. Box.
The 1907 event was not meant to be a race or competition, but quickly became one due to its pioneering nature and technical superiority of Italian automobile, Itala 40-HP. The 1990 event was a tour in good faith, and no racers competed.
Among the entrants in 1990, there were antique and antique vehicles, several motorcycles with and without side cars, and four-wheel vehicles modern, and exceptional all but one of more than 20 teams completed the journey. A 60 minute spotlight broadcast was held and narrated by actor Cliff Robertson and featured on ESPN in the United States.
Legacy
- In 1908, another intercontinental race was held, walking from Times Square in western New York City to Paris.
- With the opening of borders in both the former Soviet Union and China, cross-continental demonstrations are feasible once again, rarely attempted because of the costs and time involved. One such event has been run, a 1997 motorcycle rally that was roughly duplicated in 1908. (Offline website, archived on the Internet Archive)
- The Great Race, an American club rally competition for antique cars planned a worldwide race for 1992 but then ruled out the idea.
- American reality television series The Amazing Race document team seeks to circumnavigate the globe, using various means of travel including cars.
- LTV Corporation, the US military manufacturer Humvee uses London 1990 to Peking Motor Challenge to test two suitable prototypes of the vehicle's civil version. Pass the test easily, and stop along the way to take action for the local villagers, the vehicle will then enter production (after greater media exposure in Operation Desert Storm) as Hummer H1.
- The Mongol Rally started in 2004 and now 200 cars race to Mongolia every year. Cars could not go to Beijing due to import tax restrictions on cars, but many participants brought to China from Ulaan Baator on the Trans-Mongolian Express.
External links
- Neil Collins, the only Australian driver at LTPMC describes his journey behind the wheel of Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost 1912.
- Details about the journey of Barzini 1907
- Car details used by 1907 winners
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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