Peking to Paris competitors complete gruelling three-day haul through Kazakhstan desert to cross Caspian Sea by ferry and plane

The toughest part of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, the remote desert and steppe of Kazakhstan on the world’s last true motoring adventure, is now behind the 52 crews still in the contest after they passed the halfway point. With vicious dust clouds, 48 degrees of heat then cold, the cross winds and subsequent rain meant three rigorous days of struggling through the vast land of nothing. Parts of the dried-up seabed were deep and treacherous in the rain and then the landscape became a fog in the dust, especially if close to another competitor. With tests and regularities to contend with as well, there were some dramatic break downs with crews trying to reach the two camps at night, or the remote fuel bowser.

Appearing serenely through dust clouds and challenges at the end of each day has been the leading crew from Argentina of Jorge and Cristobal Perez Companc in their 1939 Chevrolet Master Coupe. They have extended their lead to five minutes, having no problems on the final STC section of Kazakhstan when many others failed the difficult navigation.

The only crew to push them hard, Brian Scowcroft and Mark Gilmour (GB) have cruelly suffered severe engine problems in their 1936 Fangio Roadster, a suspected piston failure which they are hoping will be cured with another engine in Baku, where garage refuge awaits them and other afflicted competitors. Crews will seek mechanical help once their cars are unloaded from the ferry taking them across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan. Scowcroft and Gilmour plummeted from second to fifth overall as a result.

By contrast, Harold Goddijn (NL) and Corrinne Vigreux (FR) have climbed back up the leaderboard to retake the lead of the Classic Class in their Porsche 911 ahead of Australians John Henderson and Lui MacLennan in their Volvo 144 and another yo-yo crew of Brian Palmer and David Bell (GB) who are back in the Classic podium positions in their Peugeot 504 Coupe. The previous leaders, Gerd Bühler and Laurenz Feierabend (DE) have dropped to fourth classic in the Porsche 911E after receiving 2m. 30 in penalties on the final STC section in Kazakhstan which proved to be really tough to drive and navigate.

Following the border crossing into Kazakhstan, a hard-earned rest day turned into a ‘fix it’ day for many in Almaty as some cars were towed in or arrived on the back of flatbed trucks, all in need of good doctoring. The crews headed out on day 16 of 37 on the 2025 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge and the longest day of the event at a whopping 649kms!

The Zebra Datsun 240Z of Ryan and Isaiah Salter (USA) were relieved to catch up at the border after breaking down and being impeded after Ordos, to receive the welcome of the group. The two American crewed Porsche 911s that were towed across the border from China into Kazakhstan were fettled, whilst the mammoth 1917 LaFrance of Australians Alan and Leigh Maden decided to take the longer and no less arduous northerly route to avoid the desert.

Once past Kyzylorda there was one more dwelling of Aralsk where teams were urged to stock up on survival foods for the heat of the remote Aral Karakum desert and fuel as they were going all the way to the Caspian Sea. With no civilisation for three days, and just the youngest desert in the world for company, fuel would be supplied from an old bowser that crews were to be find in the wilderness, whilst camping was again the only way to shelter and sleep.

The Paris-Peking experts say that should competitors survive this toughest part of the challenge, then, and only then, can they afford to start thinking of an end game plan. But with so many tough tracks and obstacles still to overcome through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France, it may be wise just to try to maintain reliability and keep a good pace as part three of the adventure will certainly provide a sting in the tail.

Day 16 was another marathon starting with a test at the FIA sanctioned Sokol Circuit. The German Porsche 911 crew of Gerd Buhler and Laurenz Feierabend were quickest. A tricky slot off the highway onto the sandy tracks caught out the long-time leading Classic Class crew of Harold Goddijn (NL) and Corinne Vigreux (FR) in their 911 and the second place Australians John Henderson and Lui MacLennan in their Volvo. They were on the wrong tracks and lost two minutes each, handing the Classic lead to Buhler and Feierabend.

Christos Livadas and Chris Papaioannou (CA) in their 1941 Chevrolet and Christina and Alex Gruber (AT) in their 1947 Bentley, missed the control altogether, both crews earning 10-minute penalties. Andrew and David Scowcroft (GB) were struggling with a sticking throttle and missed a turn. It is the sort of mechanical struggles that add to the strain, as the 1941 Ford Super Deluxe Convertible crew of Mike Schultz and Johann Ersnt (DE) demonstrated. Having been out of action for a long period they reappeared only to have to pull over again, this time with a failed head gasket.

The day’s Sporting Time Control set in rolling hills with many off-camber corners, was in parts, terrain fit for tanks, and yet rally leaders Jorge and Cristobal Perez Companc (AR) carved a smooth passage through the challenge, with minimum penalties.

Day 17 of 37, although not as arduous as the ‘longest day,’ was deeper into the Kazakhstan steppe, the largest in the world. It offered a great base for endurance rallying, especially when there was a Sporting Time Control of 29 kms to tackle over the difficult and undulating grassland peppered with sand and hidden gulleys.

The Australian Volvo of Henderson and MacLennan was having a great blast trying to claw back time after the error, the venerable 1994 Toyota HiLux of Paul Maddicott and Lee Potter (GB) showed off its breast plate under the engine as it flew across the big ruts that doubled as launch ramps, whilst car 23, the 1939 Ford Coupe of Tony Rowe and Mark Delling (GB) was mainly travelling sideways in the crew’s effort to set a decent time.

Frustration crept in for the Bentley team of Peter Berveling and Pieck van Hoven (NL) as they got held up and hit the horn hard whilst the crew in second place, Brian Scowcroft and Mark Gilmour (GB) lost ignition. Calmly, Mark traced it to a blown fuse as they then made strong strides to zero the section on the clock, with no penalties.

Day 17 of 37, although not as arduous as the ‘longest day,’ was deeper into the Kazakhstan steppe, the largest in the world. It offered a great base for endurance rallying, especially when there was a Sporting Time Control of 29 kms to tackle over the difficult and undulating grassland peppered with sand and hidden gulleys.

The Australian Volvo of Henderson and MacLennan was having a great blast trying to claw back time after the error, the venerable 1994 Toyota Hilux of Paul Maddicott and Lee Potter (GB) showed off its breast plate under the engine as it flew across the big ruts that doubled as launch ramps, whilst car 23, the 1939 Ford Coupe of Tony Rowe and Mark Delling (GB) was mainly travelling sideways in the crew’s effort to set a decent time.

Frustration crept in for the Bentley team of Peter Berveling and Pieck van Hoven (NL) as they got held up and hit the horn hard whilst the crew in second place, Brian Scowcroft and Mark Gilmour (GB) lost ignition. Calmly, Mark traced it to a blown fuse as they then made strong strides to zero the section on the clock, with no penalties.

The wind had been whipping the desert into ‘Dust Devils’ that smother the cars, the extreme heat has been sapping both human and machine, many having to make frantic repairs at a makeshift paddock at the end of the day or on the road itself. Brian and John Caudwell’s Chevrolet Master Coupe initially suffered distributor issues but later traced it carburettor fuel floats.

The second place Classic Class Porsche 911 of Harold Goddijn and Corinne Vigreux was up on jacks with a broken oil cooler. Their biggest rival and class leading navigator, Laurenz Feierabend was underneath helping out – that’s P2P camaraderie!

Day 18 and 19 were the last two days of the vast emptiness of the Kazakhstan steppe. At one point on the other side of one of the rare hills was the Baikonur Cosmodrome from where Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, from one empty space to another.

In a regularity nearby, Brian and John Caudwell hit the zeros as they aced the passage with no penalties, whilst Alejandro Caceres and Jose Luis Martinez Gutierrez (ES) grinded to a halt with engine failure in their 1972 Mercedes which they too hope to fix in Baku. The Americans Ryan and Isaiah Salter were back in the wars as their zebra painted Datsun 240Z broke a strut, they were seen headed to the port of Aktau on the back of a flat bed truck. It was the same for the Swiss crew of Nicolas and Max Merlino who broke yet another suspension component on their 1964 Volvo PV544.

Tomas de Vargas Machuca, the Chairman of HERO-ERA emerged from the desert intact, along with his 1926 Bentley on his brave solo attempt to reach Paris. Having to navigate, drive and keep pace whilst trying to watch for hazards in the clouds of dust and deep rain filled ruts took its toll, but he was ever resilient. In the final 530 km push to the Caspian Sea, he told himself he would be rewarded with a swim!

It must have been deeply relaxing as he nearly missed the plane to Baku carrying crews to Azerbaijan where they are now awaiting the arrival of the rally cars.

Azerbaijan will provide a day of genuine relaxation for the teams before their cars arrive on the ferry across the Caspian Sea on Saturday. After a day of fettling and being feted by the motor sport loving Azerbaijanis the surviving crews must brace themselves the third part of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge and its promised ‘Sting in the Tail!’

Syd