The number 1 of the historic Beijing-Paris rally caught fire. The crew is fine, just a big scare for Tomas de Vargas Machuca, driver and organizer of the race, and for his co-driver Ben Cussons, president of the RAC (English Royal Automobile Club).
The car was destroyed along the road leading from Baku and Tbilisi in Georgia. The accident was practically broadcast live by Tomas who, as usual, was inserting live footage taken from on board throughout the day into the blog. The crew had stopped to check where some smoke was coming from: the American La France (year of birth 1914, chain drive, 9500 cc) was therefore on the side of the road and Ben was investigating lying under the engine. The smoke soon after transformed into a flame, which then broke out into a terrible fire with very high flames and columns of blackish smoke.
On board, there were all the furnishings, tent and mattresses, documents and credit cards. The firefighters arrived within ten minutes to put out the fire. It seems that some personal effects, kept vacuum-packed inside heavy leather bags, were saved. Passports for sure, because Tomas intends to fly immediately to London, take another historic car and return by caravan either to Greece, before boarding for Ancona, or to San Marino for the finale of the first Italian stage on 19 June.
