Mark Pickering and Dave Boddy lead the Peking to Paris rally

Newcastle’s Mark Pickering and Dave Boddy have only a few days to go before they complete the 14,000-kilometre Peking to Paris Motor Challenge.

The big news is, they’re leading the 36-day race – which ends on Sunday. Racing in a 1973 Datsun 240Z in the “classic category”, the pair lead by 42 minutes.

The event extends across China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and France.

On Wednesday, the pair were driving through the Italian Dolomites in heavy rain.

Rally reporter Syd Stelvio wrote on the event’s blog that the Dolomites were a UNESCO World Heritage area “famed for its rocky peaks, breathtaking views and stunning scenery”.

“Although by day’s end, most crews were reduced to looking [at photos] online to see exactly what they’d missed,” the report said, while describing the weather as “a raging tempest”.

Dave’s wife Mary Boddy said many of the 110 crews had suffered setbacks, with some having to abandon the race.

Mark and Dave’s vehicle was “going without too much drama”.

“The toughest problem was having to weld a rear strut back together in Mongolia,” she said.

After the rally made its way through Slovenia, Syd wrote there was “barely an inch of straight road to be seen for some 370 kilometres”.

“We travelled through forests, journeyed across mountains and darted in and out of beautiful sleepy villages,” he said.

Mark and Dave, both in their 60s, and the other rally drivers had experienced an epic trip.

In Mongolia, Syd wrote that: “When we woke up this morning to a freezing, clear and silent dawn, the magnitude of our surroundings and what we’d done in the past eight days began to hit home”.

“Mongolia has been unforgettable.”

On a rest day in Mongolia, Syd wrote “there were some tired looking faces at the breakfast buffet this morning”.

“The rest day had obviously been a good one – too good for some who looked as though they’d taken full advantage of the many bars and restaurants available in this cosmopolitan city [Ulaanbaatar],” he wrote.

“An omelette, coffee and pastry can fix almost anything and soon the cars were being packed, route books checked and GPS units programmed.”

Earlier this week in Budapest, Syd wrote that Mark Pickering was “in a buoyant mood”.

“He’s thoroughly enjoyed the last few days of proper forest rallying and is quietly confident of holding his lead,” he said.

He added that Mark was “wary of either being complacent or pushing the car too hard, which could lead to a costly mistake”.

After travelling from Slovakia into Hungary, Syd wrote “Mark Pickering and Dave Boddy still hold the lead and, from what we’ve seen recently, they’re not going to give it up lightly”.

Keep going lads. The Hunter is with you all the way to gay Paree.