Fearless

To arrive in Paris with a 20-day lead over the second-placed entrant after making a 1,000-kilometre detour in order to go to a Grand Ball organized by the Tsar in St. Petersburg, Prince Scipione Borghese must have organized his participation in the 1907 Peking to Paris rally really well indeed! Today it’s virtually impossible to imagine how a car, on non-existent roads, without refuelling points, with minimal spare parts and just a few spare wheels, could have completed those 16,000 kilometres in just two months. That works out to 250 kilometres a day! Amazing. The fact that he came up with the idea of bringing along a famous journalist, Luigi Barzini, makes it all the more fantastic. Barzini sent his correspondences to the Daily Telegraph and the Corriere della Sera, bringing notoriety and a global audience to the incredible adventure.

The Key 2020 wanted to make a similar experience at the latest edition of the “new” Peking to Paris rally, onboard the Ferrari of Giorgio Schon and Enrico Guggiari. Today it’s a lot easier, admittedly, but a Ferrari on those roads is not much different to an Itala in 1907. Yet, just like the Itala, it travelled with the precision of a Swiss watch, arriving perfectly on time in Paris. Follow the adventure in The Key 2020.