Record-breaking solo endurance driver reveals the grit behind the achievement

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Tomas de Vargas Machuca, Chairman of HERO-ERA, has set a remarkable new endurance milestone: completing the 2025 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge solo, covering 14,899 km across 12 countries in 37 days behind the wheel of a 1926 Bentley 3–4½ Litre. His feat surpasses the long-standing benchmark set at Le Mans in 1950, and is currently pending official confirmation from Guinness World Records.

Alongside finishing the world’s toughest long-distance endurance rally, Tomas also achieved a competitive result — placing 14th overall — and received a special award for his extraordinary solo effort.

A journey across continents and extremes

The Peking to Paris route is legendary. Tomas drove alone from China through Kazakhstan and across the Caspian Sea into Azerbaijan, pushing onward through Türkiye and Europe — Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland — before reaching France.

It included:

• 10 border crossings
• 6 nights camping
• Harsh early weeks skirting the southern Gobi Desert

It wasn’t only endurance — at times, it was survival.

Every night, after long hours battling heat, rain, sandstorms, and exhaustion, the Bentley still needed repairs and maintenance. Whether dawn or midnight, Tomas worked alone to keep the car going.

“The job wasn’t finished”

Despite crossing the official finish line in Paris, Tomas felt there was one final step.

“Someone reminded me that in the old days, you weren’t considered truly finished until you drove home. So, I drove the Bentley from Paris back to London, and then on to our headquarters at Bicester Motion. That completed the journey.”

The previous record for solo distance driving in a competition event belonged to Eddie Hall, who drove his Bentley alone for the full 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours, covering 3,200 km.

Tomas’s new distance — 14,899 km solo — eclipses that achievement many times over.

His record follows other unusual endurance records also set on previous editions of the event — such as Anton Gonnissen (longest distance on a three-wheeler) and Mitch Gross (longest in a steam vehicle) in 2019.

“Endurance rallying can be incredibly hard, but also huge fun and deeply rewarding. The preparation — for both the car and myself — was essential. Staying positive matters. The days are long, and conditions change fast. You go from scorching sun to sandstorms to rain — sometimes all in one day.”

The physical demands were relentless:

• Steering and fighting the car through sand and ruts
• Constant vibration and hand fatigue
• Heat exposure in an open-top vintage car
• Managing hydration and physical recovery daily

Navigating alone added a further challenge. Tomas adopted a Dennis Jenkinson-style navigation scroll, inspired by the 1955 Mille Miglia, allowing him to keep both hands on the wheel while reading pace notes.

“You are truly exposed to the world — the heat, the cold, the dust, the landscape, the silence, the noise. It’s an unfiltered experience. Sometimes the scenery was so beautiful I’d forget I was rallying — and miss a turning!”

Tomas also credits a team of specialists for preparation and support, including:
Bicester Motion, Kingsbury Racing Shop, Harry Fraser Vehicle Upholstery, Auto-Historica, Vintage Car Radiator Company, Vintage Magneto, Historit, Motor Spirit Ltd, and Hangar 136.

Looking ahead

“The whole experience still hasn't sunken in yet, I kind of don't really want it to sink in either, even after six months! I want to think of the next challenge and get on with it. Even looking at some of the YouTube videos that I was doing for everybody else, I was getting bored of looking at me, because I've been through it. “However, I thought afterwards that it was interesting content, and so did the many thousands who watched because I think it gave a real, authentic view as to what it took the set the record. But that was the Peking to Paris solo 2025, now bring on the next challenge!”

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