Railway company chairman tackles 10k mile rally

SEVEN weeks of arduous driving in an 80-year-old car across several continents awaits a Birmingham-based chairman of a railway company.

Adrian Shooter, of Chiltern Railways, and his wife Barbara will be heading off to China on Thursday before attempting the 10,000-mile Peking to Paris Rally.

The race starts on September 10 and it is only the fourth time it has been held since its inaugural run in 1907.

Mr Shooter, who is also an engineer, told TheBusinessDesk.com: “It’s the longest rally you can do. It has just been run a very small number of times and is described as the most difficult you can do.

“Two years ago, we did a much shorter one of about 1,200 miles in India. That was great fun and then we met someone who said they were going on this rally.

“There are 106 cars in the race and the actual car that won it in 1907 is competing.”

The rally route will leave the Great Wall from where it will take the pair across the Gobi desert, Mongolia, Iran, eastern block countries and central Europe before finishing in the French capital.

They will be travelling in a 1930 Ford Model A which Mr Shooter (right) has modified and adapted to the modern rigours of driving and this trip in particular.

The couple will be updating a blog about their trip and mapping their progress using Google Earth on their website shooterspekingtoparis.com.

They are funding the trip themselves and raising money for a Cambodian charity called the Ponheary Ly foundation which educates poor children, particularly to speak English and as this drastically improves job prospects in the country.