Three Irish men are preparing to race a vintage Bentley from China to France.
In Clondalkin in west Dublin, David Dunne, Tony Colley and David Miller are busy preparing a four and a half litre Bentley to take part in a race from Peking in China to Paris in France.
The Peking to Paris Motoring Challenge will take place in June 1982 and marks the 75th anniversary of the original race, which took place in 1907. David and his friends have a lot of work to do to prepare the car for the event. The event itself will take approximately six weeks. Once the car is roadworthy, they will take it to Southampton. From there, it will be shipped to Peking. Six weeks later, the men will fly to Peking and the race will get underway.
There is a choice of three routes from Peking to Paris. The journey of 11,000 miles will take them through China, Mongolia, the Gobi desert, Siberia, Russia, Poland, East Germany, West Germany and France.
The car they will be travelling in is a 1929 4.5 litre Bentley. This model achieved great success in races during the 1920s and 1930s. The car cost £210 and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 95 miles per hour. Ahead of the race, the men need to strip the car back to examine and replace, where necessary, all the moving parts. The engine will be completely stripped and the radiator will have to be upgraded. The wheels are currently in England, being completely respoked. They also have plans to attach running boards to the sides of the vehicle.
'Ireland's Eye' broadcast on 24 December 1980.
'Ireland's Eye' was a Tuesday-to-Friday series with human interest stories and features from locations throughout Ireland. First broadcast on 7 October 1980, the programme ran until August 1983.
