16 Oct 06
The convoy passes through China's 'wild west'
Stage one heads north-east from Paris via Mercedes HQ in Stuttgart to Berlin, Warsaw, Riga and Tallinn to chilly St Petersburg. Stage two is entirely in the great unknown that is the former Soviet Union. Stage three deviates from the 1907 route, taking in Kazakhstan instead of the West Siberian swamps. Stage four is through China's 'wild west', involving both mountains and desert. Stage five starts in Lanzhou, where the ancient Silk Route crosses the Huang He or Yellow River and concludes the adventure in Beijing, where the Mercedes factory is building the E-Class. The convoy's arrival in the city also coincides with the opening of this year's Beijing Motor Show.
It's all been planned with textbook German efficiency, but with so many drivers involved and such great distances to cover, we can expect the unexpected.
The original trip took 62 days
That's certainly what happened in the 1907 event, which was partly intended as a way for the emerging French car industry to demonstrate its prowess: however, winner Prince Scipione Borghese, a diplomat and adventurer, rather spoilt the show by driving an Italian car, the 40hp Itala. He finished nearly three weeks ahead of the Dutch Spyker and two French De Dion Boutons that also competed. The winner took 62 days to cover 10,000 miles, rather than the 26 (plus two rest days) planned for this year's shorter event.
And those pioneers somehow managed without the Pre-Safe, Neck-Pro, Direct Control and Intelligent Light Systems fitted to the E-Classes.
You can follow the whole journey on 4Car. We have writers on all five legs of the adventure and their stories will build up into a unique record of this once-in-a-lifetime trip.
