Across the world in a race of his own

To finish the Peking to Paris is achievement enough. More than a month, shoulder to shoulder with your navigator crossing the hardest of terrain, in an old car. Except, for Tomas de Vargas Machuca there was no aid or assistance coming from the passenger seat. He spent the 37 days and all-but 15,000km piloting his Bentley solo. And the whole of Bicester Motion would have been tracking him, because they were all invested in the car.

Kingsbury Racing had repaired and prepared it in a matter of months. Harry Fraser Vehicle Upholstery had fitted it out. Coachbuilder Auto-Historica had been involved with the metalwork, Motor Spirit’s lubricants and oil ran through its veins, and the Vintage Car Radiator Company had created the radiator. 

Some had been out along the route to assist at the mechanical stops, but the car ran true for the whole slog and secured a record for the longest distance solo drive by car. “There were some technical issues,” Tomas admits, “but we always found solutions and kept the Bentley going through continual maintenance. I was immensely proud to cross that finish line in Paris knowing I had broken the record and that the P2P hadn’t broken me or the Bentley.

“So much work went into car preparation and my own training as you're doing it day after day after day, but it all paid off.”

It was a test of Tomas as much as it was a test of the 4½ Litre Bentley. Even without having to navigate the at-time featureless landscape alone. A version of the roller used by Denis Jenkinson and Stirling Moss to win the Mille Miglia in 1955 was used, rather than books, and was in keeping with the old car’s aesthetic. “The reality was that when I was looking down at the road book, I couldn't necessarily see some of the holes or some of the many gullies, ruts and potholes on the street, or worse in the desert. Every time I glanced away from the road, I was hitting a pothole or whatever, the car went through a lot of drama.

"The dash layout with the scroll box was to make sure that we achieved maximum security, with your hands on the steering wheel at any given time. When you're moving around and using the instruments they're much quicker to use and a short distance away from the steering wheel. It worked, yes there were moments, but we got through.”

“The biggest distraction was the beauty of the backdrop that we were driving through, whether it was the desert, the mountains or the Himalayas on one side, whether you're going through Central Europe or up the Alps,” he continues. “It was immense, and you are immersed. Sometimes you forget that you're on the rally and I’d make mistakes, you don't take the right exit or miss a vital fork in the track!”

It was physically gruelling as well as a test of the mind. Constant vibration from the broken and often non-existent roads battered through the chassis and steering to his hands. The conditions, with no roof to shelter him, rarely helped. “There were many disciplines such as hydrating yourself regularly and protecting your skin,” he says. “Fortunately, I didn’t feel it too much because you're on the go all the time running on adrenalin, all that sweat evaporates. When you are not being peppered by the sand or battered by the wind, there is rain, then you are back to being scorched again, all in a day.

“The mind and the body are fascinating in so far as we know, they just adapt. I didn’t feel particularly tired. Although it was a little bit over 40 days, covering an average of 500 kilometres a day in a pre-war car, whether we were on small roads or highways, you still had the complexity of a lot of turbulence in an old open car, and so your ears get really, really tired.”

Still, reaching Paris was not the end for Tomas. “It was incredible traversing China and the Gobi, the Aral Sea into the Caucasus, across Eastern and Central Europe, then the Alps in Austria, and through Switzerland and France. We enjoyed a wonderful celebration for the official end of the Peking to Paris, but I didn’t think the job was finished. Someone told me that in the old days, competitors used to drive to an event, and considered that you only really finished if you drove back home.

"So I drove the Bentley home to London from Paris and then on to our HQ at Bicester Motion to complete the task. I wanted to show Kingsbury Racing the car as it was. They prepared the car and helped train me, so they were just looking at the details of certain things to see what might need addressing.”

Not least because the 2028 event is already in his mind. Entry spaces are now scarce, but solo runners will be prioritised. And Tomas hopes he has inspired people enough to try it. He also pointed out that while you’re alone in the car, you always have the camaraderie at each day’s conclusion. “After very, very long days, you need that banter with other competitors, just to share your experiences, because it can be a little bit lonely. I want to source other people who are willing to take that solo challenge and help them. It's a matter of finding a system, finding the process, and sticking to the process. That way, the hours and minutes just evaporate.

“Most advised against it, but then you have serious solo attempts in other sports such as yachting, going solo across the Atlantic or around the world, so why not in Historic Rallying on one of the oldest events in the world?"