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WHO ARE WE?

Michael Power is 53 and is Finance Director at JPMorgan Cazenove in London, but he has had a passion for machinery since the age of 8.  This passion now includes a 1923 Vauxhall 30-98, for more detail see below.

Johnny Green is 58 and a professional photographer also with a passion for machinery including a Triumph TR2 and an Austin Healey 100 Four.

You can download a full list of participating drivers and their vehicles here. We are number 18, highlighted in yellow.


WHAT ARE WE DOING?

We have entered the 2007 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge.  This is a rally, obviously from Beijing to Paris celebrating the race which first took place in 1907 when the motor car was still in its infancy.  Notwithstanding this, 6 out of 7 entrants made the distance.  For more historic details see www.pekingparis.com and click on to the History Channel.  There are two excellent books, Peking to Paris by Luigi Barzini and The mad motorists: The great Peking-Paris race of '07 by Allen Andrews.

There are 131 cars competing in what is not a race but a reliability rally largely over the sort of terrain which they would have experienced in 1907, mainly unmade roads and fording of rivers.  There are three categories of entrant, pre 1921 type, pre 1941 type and pre 1961 type.  The full list of entrants can be found at the official website -click on entry list.


WHERE ARE WE GOING?

The route is very similar to the 1907 route starting in Beijing we drive north west out of China and into Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert and into Russia eventually reach Moscow and St Petersburg and then passing into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and finally France.  The detailed itinerary is available at the official site and some pictures of the route are also available on at the same website – route survey pictures.

WHAT ARE GOING IN?

Our car is a 1923 Vauxhall 30-98.  The first 30-98 was conceived in 1913 for the purpose of winning hill climbs which at the time took place on public roads.  It had a simple 4 cylinder side valve engine with a 4.5 litre capacity in a very light chassis with simple body works and modest breaks (rear wheels only).  The car was an outstanding success but production ceased on account of the First World War.  Production started again in 1919.  In 1923 the engine was upgraded to have overhead valves and our car, OE 60 was the 60th car produced with overhead valves and the last car off the production line with only rear wheel brakes.

Trials Photograph

In 1923 the Vauxhall 30-98 was possibly the fastest production car available on the market with a guaranteed top speed of 84 miles per hour.

Michael has owned OE 60 since 2000, having bought it at auction.  The previous owner had owned the car for 66 years and whilst various modifications and improvements have been made, eg the fitting of front wheel brakes, the car is substantially original and has certainly not been subjected to a cheque book restoration as is apparent from the photographs!!

The car still carries its original coach work by Mann Egerton. For a full run-down including technical petrol-head data and big-end con rod stuff, click here.
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fine tuning by zincweb internet www.zincweb.co.uk