This year’s Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, billed as the world’s toughest endurance rally for classic and vintage cars, will feature a Mini for the first time in the event’s history.
The 1972 Austin Mini 1000 has been entered as a last minute replacement for another vehicle which couldn’t be prepared in time.
Needing a car in a hurry to meet the shipping deadline, the best option was to buy a Mini someone else had prepared for the race.
The Mini 1000 has a 1300cc engine and uses a 1991 body shell, sprayed in its original colour. Not bad considering it was built in two weeks.
The sixth Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, organised by the Endurance Rally Association, will begin on Sunday 12th June 2016 as 110 crews cross the start line at the Great Wall of China in Beijing.
More crews are taking part in the 2016 outing than ever before, with 50 cars dated pre-1942 in the Vintage class and 60 in the Classic class dated pre-1977.
Competitors will cross eleven countries including Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, Russia and Belarus before entering Europe to reach the finish line in the centre of Paris on Sunday 17th July.
