Record Breaking Solo Endurance Drive

HERO/ERA Chairman Tomas de Vargas Machuca was celebrated at the International Historic Motoring Awards in November for his 14,899km, 37-day, solo drive in a 1926 Bentley 3-4 1⁄2 Litre during the 2025 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. Remarkably, without a navigator or riding mechanic, Tomas also finished the event in 14th place overall. From China, to Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, Turkey and into Europe through Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and finally France, there were 10 border crossings and six nights under canvas.

Photos Will Broadhead and Ian Skelton

The daunting task of trying to navigate and juggle road books and GPS calculations whilst on the move in difficult terrain, brought inherent risks. But Tomas went back in time to find a solution. “We came up with the use of a navigation scrolling system like that used by Dennis Jenkinson for the Mille Miglia. This is the scrolling box for road book information that ‘Jenks’ developed to use with Stirling Moss to win the 1955 event.

Then there were the running repairs and maintenance that had to be carried out on the Bentley no matter what time of day or night.

Not content with crossing the finish in Paris, as far as Tomas was concerned, the task was not complete. “Someone told me that in the old days, competitors used to drive to an event and considered that you only really finished if you drove back home. So, I drove the Bentley home to London from Paris and then on to our HQ at Bicester Motion to complete the task.”

Tomas was given the Personal Achievement of the Year Award for his heroic endeavour and is awaiting confirmation from the Guiness Book of Records for the longest distance solo drive (single handed) by car (Vintage). Tomas was generous in his thanks to all the preparers and specialists who helped prepare the car and him for the job, most notably Kingsbury Racing Shop, but there were many others.