The Peking–Paris was first proposed by the Parisian newspaper Le Matin in January 1907 to test a fledgling technology. At the time, automobiles were predominantly playthings for the wealthy and had yet to prove themselves as a practical forms of transportation. They were expensive, prone to break-downs and difficult to start. Outside major Western cities there were few roads with surfaces smooth enough for automobiles and nowhere for them to refuel.

Moreover, the world already had a highly developed transportation system: horses. Whole economies and millions of jobs depended on the raising, selling, feeding and driving of horses. Villages, towns and cities were designed around them, with plenty of stabling, carriage-sized doorways, wide roads paved with wood or cobblestones that muffled the sound of hooves and provided traction, respectively. The advent of trains only increased the reliance on horses: something was needed to take all the goods and people the final mile. Mechanisation was not considered inevitable. The same year that Le Matin proposed the race from Peking to Paris, The Economist confidently proclaimed “the triumph of the horse”.

Transport was not the only thing in the midst of seismic upheaval. The relatively recent introduction of electric lights and the telegram were changing how people lived, worked, communicated and thought about themselves and the world around them. In 1907 wireless telegraphy was being perfected and Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, was discovered.

There was political turbulence too. The Qing Imperial dynasty that had ruled China for the best part of 300 years was careening towards total collapse. Russian society, which had likewise been shaken by the decades of rapid social and cultural change, was in turmoil after the 1905 Revolution. America was overtaking Europe culturally and economically, while European countries were bogged down in diplomatic squabbles over the spoils of colonial expansion.

“The Race to the Future”, to be published by John Murray in 2023, is the fruit of five years’ careful, in-depth research. The race was world-famous in its day and produced a wealth of source material, including books, newspaper reports and photographs. Kassia’s quest has taken her to Hong Kong, Belfast, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, the Hague and Turin. As a result, she has compiled a definitive collection of previously disparate, rare and undigitised material, while building a committed network of motoring enthusiasts, private collectors, competitor families, brand custodians and museum curators.

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