The climb was only half as steep as what awaits in the Himalayas, but it still proved nearly too much for the 1927 Mercedes driven by Etienne Veen and Robert Dean. The Mercedes made it up the pass, but -- like an exhausted hiker lugging surplus gear -- stopped at the top and unloaded a box of heavy spare parts onto a passing Land Rover.

Etienne Veen ditched some gear,
but not his racing goggles.

Hermann Layher's Funkenblitz, handicapped by low-quality gasoline and a busted exhaust valve, also lost power during the climb. Luckily, Layher found the Land Rover as well, and off-loaded pounds of extra baggage. The climb and the gutted roads were a good test of combat readiness for the treacherous trails coming up in Tibet.

Bright yellow corn blanketing flat rooftops and red peppers draping windows offered rare relief from a day-long landscape that was otherwise uniformly brown: stony peaks, flat mud huts, giant sand dunes, grazing two-hump Bactrian camels and the chocolatey Yellow River. But even that view was lost on Francesca Sternberg and Jennifer Gillies, who were carefully weaving their way around ruts and bumps after losing the front shock absorber on their Volvo Amazon 122. "People must think I'm drunk," says Francesca. "I'm swerving so and driving down the middle of the road." The duo hoped to find a welder in Lanzhou.

Bactrian camels along the rally route

While most drivers had their hands full with car challenges, American Don Jones took a crack at geopolitical philosophy: "Here you see the ultimate contrast between American freedom and democracy, the ability to go where you want when you want, and the absolute controlling mindset of the Chinese authorities," he declared. The Chinese, Jones said, have taken a paternalistic attitude toward the event that has removed some of the fun from the rally: closing roads, providing police escorts and stationing 5,000 public safety officials along the route.

Chinese insistence that the cars move in a convoy meant that the rally's first two days were not officially timed. Under normal rally conditions, motorists depart each morning at one-minute intervals and must register at several checkpoints during the day. The goal is to arrive exactly on time (drivers must wait if they arrive early). Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to participants who make it to Paris (as long as they haven't committed egregious infractions along the way).

A child in a small mountain village outside of Lanzhou

To win a gold medal, a car must arrive within two hours of its target time at each of the 140 checkpoints from Beijing to Paris. The overall rally winner -- and the winners in each class of automobile -- will be determined in part by the number of penalties the cars have accumulated along the route.

Lord Edward Montagu won't roll into Paris on his Prince Henry Vauxhall, but he has a chance to cross the finish line as a passenger. The Lord of Beaulieu hitched a ride in the 1967 Rolls Royce Phantom V driven by Australians John Matheson and Jeanne Eve. A most appropriate choice, it would seem, as the Rolls' back seat was once graced by the queen of England on her trips Down Under.

After being temporarily stranded with a shot suspension, Burt Richmond was in high spirits today, thanks to a Chinese peasant farmer. "He took me to his shack, we welded the piece back together and reinforced it," Richmond explained. "All over the world, people are not evil -- they are warm, friendly, curious and generous. I know with a smile and gesturing we'll be able to get some help."

Burt Richmond finally
arrives in Lanzhou.