Peking to Paris 2025 Day 10 - Transit Day

Day 10 was a relatively short day of transit after the rigours of the previous day when many endured long hard days in the saddle, or not, depending on the condition of their steeds.

Earlier in the morning of yesterday, there were long corrugated sections causing severe vibrations and gravel with sand pulling at the car’s steering, requiring constant adjustments on the wheel. Crews had to be ever vigilant for dips, bumps and gulleys. It was wild and definitely in the ‘middle of nowhere!’

Nicols and Max Marino shredded a tyre and bent the rim, Jonathan Turner and Nick English were stopped in their Bentley trying to strap the front right of the chassis and suspension, all that following the major welding on the chassis. Although Tomas de Vargas Machuca was nursing his own fuel regulator and ignition issues, he stopped to offer assistance to the fellow Bentley crew, as he did with solo driver Sabine Notz Catsiapis who had broken a front shock absorber on the 1940 Chevrolet Fangio Coupe.

As ever, the incredible Mechanical Assistance Crews, lead by Dave Alcock, have been busy fixing and repairing competitor’s rally cars through the desert and again when crews arrived at the hotel. This new hotel was a welcome sight after the drive along the Great Sea Road in the afternoon which took crews further inside the National Park which includes lots of rare geographical features.

Temperatures hit 38 degrees at one point, although there were dirt road sections, there was at least the relief of some tarmac.

Day 11 to look forward tomorrow as the teams will drive out of the National Park over mostly gravel roads and head west to take in two regularities. The Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2025 will then make its way to Urumqi the capital of Xinjiang Province and the most remote city in the world.