Byoshower travelling from Peking to Paris.

We have provided some Byoshower for a variety of expeditions and they seem to be getting more interesting and unusual.  Simon Hope from H&H, Europe's largest Auctioneers of Classic Cars, Motorcycles and Automobilia (www.handh.co.uk) has teamed up with close friend Adam Singer to take part in the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge 2010.  This endurance motoring rally starts on the 10th September, finishing on the 16th October.  The route takes in the sights of Peking, travels along the Great wall of China, into Inner Mongolia across the Gobi Desert to Outer Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar then into Kazakhstan, Uzbekhistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and finally finished in Paris, France.

In 1907, the first Peking to Paris Rally, five cars set out from Peking, four made it to Paris to a tumultuous welcome and world-wide fame – they had set out to prove that man and machine could now go anywhere, they hoped it would make borders between countries redundant. They had left Peking with no passports – these had been confiscated by Chinese authorities who suspected they were spies, and had no interest in seeing the success of the motor-car having just invested in shares in the trans-Siberian railway.

The second Peking to Paris was not held until the summer of 1997, when on the 90th anniversary, the rally was the first-ever rally for classic and vintage cars to cross China, and the first-ever rally to cross Tibet – they camped at the foot of Mount Everest and also cracked open the border between Tibet and Nepal.

The border at Friendship Bridge between Tibet and Nepal had been closed for 40 years since it was slammed shut by Chairman Mao – the 90th Anniversary Peking to Paris negotiated the re-opening, it remains open today, the rally drove on into India and Pakistan, and were the first rally to cross Iran since the 1977 London to Sydney Marathon. Of 96 cars that set out, all but nine made it to the celebrations in Place de la Concorde, and TV film of the epic drive has been seen in more than 80 different countries. In New Zealand, our Peking to Paris became part of the school curriculum for children who followed the adventures of the mad motorists as part of their geography lessons.

Both Simon and Adam have raced before but they had not done any form of rallying.  It is no mean feat and they recognise that they need to get their minds and bodies into shape to enable them to finish a 10,000 miles race in Adam's Speed 6 Bentley across some pretty inhospitable terrain.

In preparation, Simon and Adam have various events planned but the first one was the Three Castles in North Wales.  The Three Castles takes place in May over three competitive days in North Wales.  They were extremely lucky this year as the weather was absolutely marvellous and some of the scenery they take you through is just quite outstanding.

The car is currently being prepared for shipping to Peking and in it will be plenty of Byoshower to try and stay a bit cleaner along the way.  I don't imagine that there are many hot showers in the Gobi Desert.  We will be tracking the car via satellite along the way and providing regular updates....