January 2016, Newcastle, NSW

In June, Dave and friend Mark Pickering will start from the Great Wall of China in Beijing, to take part in the 2016 running of the Peking to Paris Rally.

They will be driving Mark's 1973 Datsun 240Z for the rugged five-week event. The route will cross 10 countries, including China, Mongolia and Russia, and cover nearly 14,000km::

It's an event that's designed for "classic cars", that is, cars  built before 1975.

One of the preliminary challenges is simply finding enough space in the small vehicle for all the supplies and equipment they'll need to carry, as the event does not cater for service crews.  Seven days of crossing Mongolia calls for camping equipment to be carried in addition to all the usual mechanical spare parts, as accommodation is a bit thin on the ground there.

The car was prepared for the 1995 London to Mexico Rally and in the hands of Ross Dunkerton (five times Australian Rally Champion), came second.  The car also competed in rallies from Panama to Alaska in 1997, and a Sydney to London in 2000 before being bought by Mark in 2013.

Presuming that all goes to plan, Dave will try to post a blog on their adventures - but this, of course, will depend on many things, not the least being internet connections across the Gobi Desert, for example.

Anyhow, we'll see how it goes.

Start here!