Pekin to Paris.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 11, 2 September 1907, Page 400

Pekin to Paris.

The great race is over, won by the only competitor who got through. It is an instructive lesson to the thoughtless motorist who makes speed and brilliancy his first aims. All the competitors but Prince Borghese were victims to the speed craze, and they handicapped themselves out of the running by their preparations for the gallery work which is the bane of motoring. Prince Borghese thought only of the stupendous difficulties of the journey and prepared for them with fine forethought, discarding speed, selecting a heavy motor warranted to do solid work. All the band had arranged for coolies to pull them out of trouble, which was certain at every turn ; but the car which was by far the heaviest of the lot, requiring forty men to lift it, came through leaving the rest piled up wrecks behind at various stages. In fact, the rest, with one exception, have never been heard of since they started — a very significant fact seeing that the best preparations had been made for constant telegraph communication. The troubles were numerous, partly political and partly physical. All succeeded in overcoming the suspicions ,of the Chinese Government which for a time, without flatly refusing — they never flatly refuse, preferring more scientific and less compromising methods — delayed the passports in the usual dilatory fashion. Once started, the real troubles began for the travellers. Had they selected the railway route, most of these would have been avoided. A simple run along good roads to L,iauyang would have taken them to the Manchurian line, which they could easily have followed past Mukden and Karbin to the Siberian railway, along which there is an excellent road right to Moscow. But the course did not lie that way. The competitors preferred to make for Lake Baikal through the desert of Gobi in Mongolia, making a great saving of distance. First, quite close to Pekin came the mountainous country of 150 miles on the boarders of the desert, then there were some big rivers, and the country was strewn with swamps; moreover there were man} 7 regions covered with boulders like a gigantic New Zealand river bed. All the cars started loaded up with mountaineering equipment — bamboo rods, light pulleys, ropes and tackle of all kinds, not forgetting some notable pontoon devices for the rivers The old tracks were in most places washed away by heavy rains, there were countless slips to negotiate, and the swamps in the valleys of the mountain region were most provoking. Petrol had been sent ahead in the requisite abundance, and the wires were ready to chronicle anything and everything that might happen and to signal for anything and everything that might be needful in emergency. But what are wires and what is petrol when the car has to be lifted bodily over great boulders, dragged through streams, and fished out of dismal swamps ? These obstacles proved too much for all but the Prince, who had used his head. Everything was in readiness, gangs of coolies waited at the dangerous spots, the repairing shops were all that repairing shops are in civilised places, the good will of the tribes on the road had been won and lasted enthusiastically. Indeed, the accounts speak with great pleasure of the behaviour of the people of the country, high and low. The Grand I^ama of Urga prepared gorgeous festivities, which were much appreciated by those who got through — indeed, all seem to have done that, but only one seems to have

got his car through with him. That one, Prince Borghese, who had deliberately sacrificed speed to stability, kept a good course through the mountains with his superior travelling car, with its petrol reservoir sufficient for 600 miles The Prince carried with him 20 lbs of baggage, 10 gallons of water, tent and provisions for several days, and a passenger. The race was practically won in the mountains, for the desert proved to be better going than was anticipated. It is well to remember that this car was fitted with extraordinary wire tyres so arranged as to counteract the sinking tendency in the sandy parts of the desert. It was also furnished with special pontoon equipment for use in water. The race was to have been conpleted in eighty days, and the Prince Borghese has finished it in sixty-one — having a handsome margin He is the only competitor who made a show of progress, and it is interesting to note the time occupied on the various stages of the journey. Irkutsk, 1500 miles was reached on July 2nd ; Krasnoyarsk on July 7th ; Tomsk, 2700 miles, on July 11th ; Kazan on July 24th ; Moscow, 4500 miles, on July 28th ; Berlin, August sth : arriving at Paris on August 10th