Eleanor on the Peking to Paris
Eleanor’s Story
I am delighted to introduce you to our wonderful rally car Eleanor.
Named after Eleanor Roosevelt, we wanted to name her after someone who was hippy and sassy, and beautiful in a non-standard way - and so Eleanor she is.
We purchased her in 2017 in preparation for the 2019 Peking to Paris classic car rally. And my, what an adventure we had!
On the 18th of May 2024, she will take us on another exciting adventure, the 2024 Peking to Paris.
Eleanor is a 1941 Chevrolet Coupe S petrol 2 door saloon. She would have originally had bench seats front and back, but for rally purposes she has two Racaro rally seats and specialist 4 point seatbelt harnesses. Where the back seat was is space for the increased fuel tanks and to put all our gear.
Her engine is a 4300cc straight 6 engine. We have swapped her bumper for replacement springs, this means we can carry them without adding extra weight. She has two fuel tanks, 90 litres and 60 litres. As with a lot of these cars, we have replaced her metal boot with a vinyl one, this is to save weight No power steering, no air-conditioning, no limited slip diff. Much of how she drives is the same as she would have when she was built.
Find out more about Eleanor and our adventures with her here…
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Eleanor out for a test drive visiting Diddly Squat Farm Shop
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Below are the stops we will be making each night.
You can find out more about the route here, and please feel free to follow us on any of our social media or by joining our blog.
Prep days in Beijing
Prep 1 14 May Get Drivers Licences
Prep 2 15 May Shopping for oil and car supplies
Prep 3 16 May Briefing followed by car collection
Prep 4 17 May Scrutineering
Rally Days
Day 1 18 May Rally Starts at 7.30am Great Wall of China to Datong
Day 2 19 May Datong to Hohhot
Day 3 20 May Hohhot to Ordos
Day 4 21 May Ordos to Camp 1 - Nan Liang Tai (Google is not helpful as to where this is.)
Day 5 22 May Camp 1 to Camp 2 – Tengger Desert
Day 6 23 May Camp 2 to Jiayuguan
Day 7 24 May Jaiyuguan to Dunhuang
Day 8 25 May Dunhuang Rest day – actually better called a Non-drive day
Day 9 26 May Dunhuang to Camp 3 – Gobi
Day 10 27 May Camp 3 to Camp 4 – Great Sea Road
Day 11 28 May Camp 4 to Ürümqi
Day 12 29 May Ürümqi to Camp 5 – Forest Park
Day 13 30 May Camp 5 to Horgos
Day 14 31 May Horgos border crossing to Almaty, Kazakhstan
Day 15 1 June Almaty rest day
Day 16 2 June Almaty to Shymkent
Day 17 3 June Shymkent to Kyzyl Orda
Day 18 4 June Kysylorda to Camp 6 – Akespe
Day 19 5 June Camp 6 to Camp 7 – Beyneu
Day 20 6 June Camp 7 to Aktau
Day 21 7 June Aktau to Baku
Day 22 8 June Baku non drive day
Day 23 9 June Baku non drive day – we are getting the cars across the Caspian
Day 24 10 June Baku to Qakh
Day 25 11 June Qakh to Tblisi
Day 26 12 June Tblisi to Erzumum
Day 27 13 June Erzumum to Sivas
Day 28 14 June Sivas to Ankara
Day 29 15 June Ankara to Istanbul
Day 30 16 June Istanbul Rest day
Day 31 17 June Istanbul to Thessaloniki
Day 32 18 June Thessaloniki to Igoumenista Ferry Overnight
Day 33 19 June Igoumenista ferry to San Marino
Day 34 20 June San Marino to Genova
Day 35 21 June Genova to Aix-les-Bains
Day 36 22 June Aix-les-Bains to Dijon
Day 37 23 June Dijon to Paris