The first Peking to Paris rally was run in 1907. Despite two thousand applicants, only 5 cars actually arrived at the dock in Beijing and the winner was an Italian prince named Scipione Borghese, who drove a 45 horsepower Italia. Apparently, he didn’t endear himself to his fellow competitors when, upon arriving at the first hotel in Mongolia and discovering that it had 5 rooms, he took all five, leaving the other drivers to sleep in tents outside.
Since then, the race has been run three times, in 1997, 2007, and 2010 as a classic car race. And takes place again this year with the checkered flag dropping on May 28 somewhere near the Great Wall.
Two Angelenos will be at the starting line: Stanley Gold, President of Shamrock Holdings, Roy Disney’s private investment company, and Garrick Staples, a computer systems administrator who also ran the race in 2010, competing against his father.
Below, Warren talked to the drivers.