Austin history, Member newsColin HamillFebruary 09, 2020Peking to Paris

Peking to Paris Rally, for Classic and Vintage Cars...

Austin history, Member newsColin HamillFebruary 09, 2020Peking to Paris

I follow the ‘Paris to Peking Rally’ whenever it is held, usually every three years since the early 2000’s, although the first one was held way back in the early 1900’s. A long break followed after that, due in part, to political and military upheaval in some of the countries the rally passes through. The 2019 rally was only the seventh one held. The rally still uses the original name Peking, rather than Beijing, for the starting point.

It is run over a month in June/July and covers around 13,500km, through China, Mongolia, Russia and Europe. It is a very demanding rally, especially over the first-half, with average days covering 400 to 600km. There are a few maintenance/rest days thrown in along the way, but depending on how your vehicle is holding up, many ‘roadside’ repairs take place.

Most vehicles entered today finish the rally. This has been largely brought about by much use of modern engine systems, better metallurgy in engine, drive-train and suspension components and smart engineering to ‘toughen-up’ the cars for such a punishing journey.

The main ‘categories’ of vehicles in the event, are ‘classic’ and ‘vintage’, with all vehicles having to be pre-1976. This event is the realm of people with big cheque-books, with the entry fee alone running well into five-figures. Then comes the cost of shipping cars to the start and home again after the rally, plus support crews if used.

Australia has had some good success in recent times, with an EH Holden winning the Classic category in 2010, driven by veteran Australian rally driver, Gerry Crown. Another EH placed 8th in the recent 2019 event, driven by Phillip and Lynda Blunden, but perhaps the most striking success to come out of Australia, were the 2013 and 2019 Classic category wins by a 4.4ltr P76 Leyland, piloted once again by Gerry Crown and his co-driver Matt Bryson, who built the car.

This, of course, is the car that was judged to be a “lemon” by writers and the motoring public, from the time it was first produced, although the car did garner a small, but fanatical base of supporters over the years.

I find it quite humorous, how a widely-held perception of a car built many decades ago, can be completely flipped on it’s head, when it is honestly assessed by experts who have had a fair bit to do with them over the years. The humble, unloved P76, is now judged by life-long experts in the field of rallying, such as Gerry Crown and John Bryson (Matt’s dad), as the best long-distance rally car they have ever seen. Between them they have had enormous success with this car in endurance rallying, over many decades, throughout the world. A good yard-stick for for the P76, is Gerry and Matt’s victory in the 2013 Peking to Paris, where they beat off a Porsche 911 to do it.

There are many interesting and informative articles on the net about the Peking to Paris Rally, with many wonderful photographs of old cars most of us remember, being ‘put to the test’ in front of some stunning scenic back-drops. Well worth a look.