Beijing. May 15, 2005. The old vehicles which have been shipped half way around the world are lined up at the European quarter of old Peking where the Great Race started 100 years ago. Five cars identical to the originals, ready to re-create motoring history. There's limited back-up, hardly any spares and 14,000 kilometres to drive. After just two kilometres there's the first breakdown. The yellow De Dion's having battery problems and neurosurgeon, John Matheson's getting left behind because his gearbox is starting to play up. Even Stijnus Schotte's million-dollar Dutch Spyker has conked out with a fuel blockage. Then they lose John Matheson altogether. There's tension building up and they haven't even reached the Great Wall of China. The intention is that expeditioners get a taste of what it must have been like in 1907 for the original drivers and after passing the Great Wall of China, the villagers of Xiang Jia Ying help tow the cars up a hillside, just as happened a century ago when the roads were impassable. The Chinese minders who want to keep the expedition away from some of China's most sensitive military areas thwart the next leg of the journey. Re-routing the cars puts them in the thick of thousands of trucks in a 120-kilometre-long traffic jam. After three hours, someone decides to save face and since the Chinese minders won't allow the expedition to drive around the jam - they decide the cars will go through it. Two lanes of trucks part like the Red Sea and seven hours and 25000 trucks later, the drivers pull into the hotel in Jining victorious.The day has been a blast! It's getting colder and colder as the cars travel the last 100 kilometres in China. The climb towards Mongolia and the Gobi Desert begins and some of the drivers are quietly nervous. “There's an indescribable spirit of death,” about the Gobi is how one of the travellers put it. The welcome to Mongolia is unexpected after the hassles of China, starting with the brass band
Just seven days on the road and there's still another three hundred kilometres of the Gobi ahead. No showers, blistering heat in the day and freezing cold in the night. The cars need some serious repairs and drivers are taking stock of what lies ahead. Stijnus, for one, really had no idea what he was exposing his priceless motor to. After a good deal of sign language, charades and scribbled sketches, the desert town of Sayshand produces a mechanic with a welder to bring the cars back to roadworthy condition. Expeditioners are invited to participate in a traditional Mongolian naadam festival, an annual event that celebrates horse racing, wrestling and archery. The festival also provides an opportunity for the crews of the Itala and Spyker to test their metal against Mongolian horses and their young riders - and they come off second best. With 250 kilometres of desert still to cross, the expedition stumbles on an abandoned Soviet military town called Choya. Ten thousand Russians used to live there up until 15 years ago. The old Soviet airstrip is the perfect place for another little grudge match between the Itala and Spyker. This time Dutch horse power triumphs over 'spaghetti power'. Then it's off to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia's capital city. While some wander the markets and Buddhist temples, Keith and Anthony find themselves a backstreet operation where they can get their axle permanently welded and John finds himself unexpectedly part of a glamour photo shoot for a glossy magazine. A traditional Mongolian string quartet farewells the expedition on their journey over Mongolia's highest mountain range towards Siberia. But Mongolia has one last surprise: a summer snowstorm before the frozen drivers emerge in a green valley they christen the Garden of Eden. The last day in Mongolia sees the expedition blessed by monks from a nearby monastery and in return, the expeditioners provide joy rides in the old cars. The border crossing into Russia proves to be a se
The yellow De Dion has a hole in the gear box, the Contal has a broken spring and the Itala has a broken tail shaft. The crews are just managing to limp into Irkutsk and straight into the arms of Russian Hell's Angels. And what a lucky break it turns out to be even though it means extra time in Irkutsk, time to let loose and mix it on the dance floor with some locals. By 6am next morning John Matheson is a bit cranky. As the oldest driver in the slowest car, John wants to hit the road early and when the missing co-driver Andrew Snelling, does emerge, he's not exactly popular. Thanks to the Russian bikers, most are back on the road in two days except for Lang and Warren. It will be days before they leave Irkutsk, and they'll drive day and night to catch up with the rest of the expedition. With the expedition now spread out, everyone's dealing with the challenges of the road by themselves. Chris and Mick's luck changes when they stop for repairs to the Contal. The work is done and the boys are invited inside for hospitality Russian style: copious quantities of food, even greater quantities of vodka, and a good thrashing with a bunch of birch leaves in an overheated sauna called a banya. Over the next few days the team comes back together again. It's been nerve-wrecking though. Driving 10-12 hours each day every day on Russia's roads isn't for the faint-hearted. They are the most dangerous on earth with more than 35,000 people dying on them every year. Our adventurers yearn for seat belts. Or doors. Or a roof on the car for that matter! At day's end, the never-ending stream of squalid Russian hotels is also taking its toll. Camping is very much the preferred option, especially when locals arrive laden with home-cooked food and home-brewed vodka. Car problems are brewing too. Both the Spyker and Itala have magneto problems, just as happened - in the same spot - 100 years earlier. The expedition is stranded in Tomsk while a solution is sought. The Spyker c
It's Day 31, the expedition is halfway through Russia, and with the traffic getting worse the further west they go, the crews opt for a back road. But Russian back roads are always a struggle, and the million dollar Spyker ends up in a ditch. It's pulled out unscathed but at day's end there's been 12 hours on the road averaging just 9 kilometres an hour. At the end of a day like this, it's hardly surprising that everyone's left feeling edgy about the way Lang handles things. But Lang's unrepentant. For him, a day like this is what it's all about. There's rain. Lots of it and it's very cold. Stijnus's support crew, Rob Spyker is worried about hypothermia, but they can't stop. It's 450 kilometres to Moscow and there's a big reception at the Australian Ambassador's residence to attend in just two days' time. Stijnus keeps driving, but Rob eventually abandons him for the warmth of a backup vehicle - and no one really blames him - except Stijnus! At the Australian Ambassador's reception one of the guests is a cartoonist from Pravda, one of the world's most famous newspapers. He invites Warren to draw a cartoon for the paper. An interesting scenario - the cartoonist from Australia's largest capitalist newspaper drawing for one of the world's oldest communist newspapers. Moscow marks the first farewell from the expedition: Keith Brodie's wife, Louise has to head back to Australia so his mate, Peter Brown is flown in as co-driver. After Moscow it's on to St Petersburg. On the original expedition, Prince Borghese was 14 days ahead of his nearest rival, and so cocky was he that he took time out to go to a ball at a palace in St Petersburg, dance with some pretty women and still got to Paris first. This expedition is doing the same thing - entirely in the interests of historic authenticity! After heading north and west for more than six weeks it's time to head south. Paris seems almost within reach but just when everyone starts to think they're hitting the easy par
