1927 AC entered for the Peking-Paris event!!

[Old Crock]

A 1927 AC has been entered for the Peking-Paris endurance event!
   
   This is one hell of a motoring challenge, for the cars and the drivers. The route is more than 8500 miles, over an itinerary of 36 days, and the cars journey through China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, then into Europe through Poland, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland (and more) to end in Paris. You can imagine the state of many roads, let alone crossing desert and so on.
   
   The car is the 1927 AC saloon, with Weymann body, that was recently returned to the UK from South Africa (see photos under recent posting ‘Two vintage AC’s come home’). Steve Gray of Brooklands Cars has entered and I admire his courage and spirit! The event takes place June/July of next year so more to follow.....

[Old Crock]

A paragraph on the car, and Peking-Paris entry, will be in the next edition of the ‘The Automobile’. It will be in Matthew Bell’s column (he owns a 1926 AC 4-cyl.)

[Old Crock]

Below, the vintage AC saloon under preparation at Brooklands. Quite a photo, as there's five vintage AC Sixes in this shot (that's more together than have attended any single ACOC Nationals/gatherings in the last twenty years or more!) There are only some fifteen of these cars actually roadworthy worldwide.
   
   
   
   The itinerary for the Peking-Paris. The last number is the number of Kms that day:
   
   Day 1 Sun 12 Jun 2016 Peking to Datong China 388
   Day 2 Mon 13 Jun 2016 Datong to Erenhot China 573
   Day 3 Tue 14 Jun 2016 Erenhot to Undurshireet Mongolia 400
   Day 4 Wed 15 Jun 2016 Undurshireet to Ulaan Baatar Mongolia 360
   Day 5 Thu 16 Jun 2016 Rest Day Ulaan Baatar Mongolia
   Day 6 Fri 17 Jun 2016 Ulaan Baatar to Bulgan Mongolia 343
   Day 7 Sat 18 Jun 2016 Bulgan to Murun Mongolia 350
   Day 8 Sun 19 Jun 2016 Murun to Uliastai Mongolia 390
   Day 9 Mon 20 Jun 2016 Uliastai to Chjargas Lake Mongolia 350
   Day 10 Tue 21 Jun 2016 Chjargas Lake to Olgiy Mongolia 350
   Day 11 Wed 22 Jun 2016 Olgiy to Altai Republic Russia 180
   Day 12 Thu 23 Jun 2016 Altai Republic to Aya Russia 550
   Day 13 Fri 24 Jun 2016 Aya to Novosibirsk Russia 560
   Day 14 Sat 25 Jun 2016 Rest Day Novosibirsk Russia
   Day 15 Sun 26 Jun 2016 Novosibirsk to Omsk Russia 668
   Day 16 Mon 27 Jun 2016 Omsk to Tyumen Russia 627
   Day 17 Tue 28 Jun 2016 Tyumen to Yekaterinburg Russia 384
   Day 18 Wed 29 Jun 2016 Rest Day Yekaterinburg Russia
   Day 19 Thu 30 Jun 2016 Yekaterinburg to Perm Russia 420
   Day 20 Fri 1 Jul 2016 Perm to Kazan Russia 590
   Day 21 Sat 2 Jul 2016 Kazan to Nizhny Novgorod Russia 436
   Day 22 Sun 3 Jul 2016 Nizhny Novgorod to Zavidovo Russia 613
   Day 23 Mon 4 Jul 2016 Zavidovo to Smolensk Russia 461
   Day 24 Tue 5 Jul 2016 Smolensk to Minsk Belorussia 554
   Day 25 Wed 6 Jul 2016 Minsk to Brest Belorussia 494
   Day 26 Thu 7 Jul 2016 Brest to Rzeszow Poland 315
   Day 27 Fri 8 Jul 2016 Rzeszow to Kosice Slovakia 320
   Day 28 Sat 9 Jul 2016 Kosice to Budapest Hungary 380
   Day 29 Sun 10 Jul 2016 Rest Day Budapest Hungary
   Day 30 Mon 11 Jul 2016 Budapest to Maribor Slovenia 410
   Day 31 Tue 12 Jul 2016 Maribor to Ljubljana Slovenia 300
   Day 32 Wed 13 Jul 2016 Ljubljana to San Martino di Castrozza Italy 454
   Day 33 Thu 14 Jul 2016 San Martino di Castrozza to St Moritz Switzerland 390
   Day 34 Fri 15 Jul 2016 St Moritz to Lausanne Switzerland 420
   Day 35 Sat 16 Jul 2016 Lausanne to Reims France 485
   Day 36 Sun 17 Jul 2016 Reims to Paris France 180

[Old Crock]

Prep for the Peking-Paris coming along well...engineering and coachwork underway...
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[BE774]

The restoration alone is a marvellous undertaking.
   
   The rally itinerary looks to be really punishing, with some 400 mile days and one stretch of 10 days without a break. I hope the crew are working on their fitness as well!

[Old Crock]

The AC is now in Beijing together with 114 other entrants. The start of the event is tomorrow 12 June 2016.
   
   

[Old Crock]

Scrutineering underway today:
   
   

[Jam2]

I hope all is well, most other competitors seem to be well away from Bejing now, no.11 still seems to be there.
   http://www2.endurorally.com/pp2016/tracking.html

[Old Crock]

The organisers report that Steve Gray, with the AC 16/40 Weymann, sadly has had to  abandon and leave the Rally, shortly before the start at the Great Wall. Second gear on the car has been lost, and they've been forced to return to Beijing. After so much time and effort in the preparation for the event, over such a long time, it's very disappointing....

[Robin A Woolmer]

That is very sad news, it is such a great car.
   
   Robin