by Roberto Chiodi
What you are reading is, I hope, the story of a survivor, convinced that for the fourth time he would have succeeded in completing the Peking-Paris, “the Everest of rallies”. Previous experiences had shaped your reporter, well aware therefore that the extreme challenge of completing the ninth edition aboard a Fiat 500 '73 it would have been very hard, much more than other times: 15 thousand kilometers, all spare parts on board, no scheduled assistance, the worst roads (when there are any...) of China, Kazakhstan up to the Caspian Sea.
In short, a very tough test. for the most powerful, most resistant and reliable cars in history of motoring: and us? On board a little box, a child compared to the cuirassiers, little engine power, really limited spaces, ridiculous fuel tank for the 4-500 km during the day, uncomfortable on uneven ground.
And yet, when we saw how much sympathy, admiration, wonder It started to arouse interest from the very first moment, all fears melted away and we immediately decided that any sacrifice would be rewarded.
To begin with, the preparations were also tormented. We made the crazy decision to leave at the end of June, the 500 embarked six months later. Preparing a car like that for such a race would have taken three times as many months. Just to say: the running-in did not exceed a thousand kilometers, completed on normal roads (which really have nothing to do - as a basic idea - with the Asian tracks in the middle of nowhere, where often even goats and camels struggle to complete them). I admit that enthusiasm got the better of us and once the idea began to dominate us, we also, if not solved, at least made harmless the bureaucratic, insurance, editorial, diplomatic, medical and motoring obstacles. The fact is that on May 13 we settled on the direct Air China flight and, ten hours later, in the Shangri-Là hotel, the blessing and curse of us adventurers. We are now tied to all the electronic devilries of common use and realizing that the Internet is all that can be around, works little and badly, changes your life. A customs delay delayed the delivery of the car and a new mechanism that is not very logical but very Chinese has turned the three days of pre-departure upside down. To drive you need their license, and that's fine; it is especially useful because it must be linked to the delivery of the license plate; indispensable to collect the car, which however can only drive on the route and at the time established.
In short, the traditional one was about to be skipped Made in Italy Festival in the Residence of Ambassador Ambrosetti. Whose patience and kindness, combined with the competence and availability of all the staff, allowed for a lively, easy-going and pleasant meeting (like the lasagna and ice creams, which we would have hardly found on the trip).
The start began at night. Breakfast at 5, departure for the Great Wall at dawn on Saturday because the 80 kilometers to leave the capital and reach the Badaling section of the Great Wall take at least an hour and a half. The same to master the new rules of the event: they should be broadly similar to those of a rally or regularity race; but it doesn't take much to complicate them. And then the wise organizer the day before sends out the so-called "zero car" to scout the route and discover all the things that have changed compared to the previous notes, in the official stage the next day. He notes them down, transcribes them on a sheet of paper that is given to you at the start. You should then be able to sort out the road book; but all it takes is having to solve any last-minute problem and postpone the transcription of the small changes and you find yourself on another road. I wouldn't wish an experience like that on anyone in China, whether in the metropolis or in the countryside. All of this is made worse by theabsolute incompressibility not only of the language, but also of gestures: everything we do with our hands and arms, eyes and grimaces, for them it only means that they can tell you something with a mysterious turn of phrase. But they have cell phones and they care about the photo with you, closed fist and open thumb, even a few bows and unconditional approval for the Cinquino!
First stop a datong, a city already seen other times, now much bigger. Like Hohot: one skyscraper after another, impressive for its upward construction, absolute modernity and traffic that neatly interprets arbitrariness. And here we are in Ordos: they call it a “ghost town” because its development was planned for a population that is not yet there. Right in the city center everything is normal, traffic and traffic lights. The double test on the circuit is fun, like the previous ones: average speed to be respected on routes at the limit of passability, with the addition of the change of the imposed speed. Stuff for specialists and for right and high-performance cars. The Cinquino does what it can, but with the satisfaction of preceding even a Fulvia HF in the standings. A fault in the starter motor has compromised the standings, but there is still more than a month to recover. Tomorrow and the day after there is a nice piece of desert, you sleep in a tent and anything can happen. We plan to tell you about it in Garlenda!
