“It was about 9,300 or 9,400 miles driven,” Kevin Bradburn says. “Six time zones, nine countries… two major ferry crossings… we ferried across the Caspian Sea and across the Adriatic. When you factor all that in, it was really halfway around the world.”

Beijing is in China; Paris is in France. The first organized car race between the two cities took place in 1907, when the Western world still called Beijing “Peking.” The current incarnation, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, is a time-speed-distance rally for historic cars, a regularity event built on average speed, teamwork, and endurance. In addition to China and France, this year’s event routed some 100 competitors across Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Often on dirt.

People run Peking-to-Paris in a variety of cars—in 2024, the overall winners drove a 1928 Bentley 4.5-Litre Le Mans. Kevin, his son Cole, and their 912 finished third in the event’s Classic category.

Cole runs a Porsche-Volkswagen specialty shop near Salt Lake City; he built the car. They ran the event, Kevin says, for the same reason that they wanted to do it in a Porsche—family. And, he adds with a smile, because they are “Porsche-VW people.”

The details make the story: The Bradburns didn’t set out to win; they signed up for the experience. Hundreds of people apply to enter Peking-to-Paris every year—Kevin and Cole didn’t even think they’d get in, assumed organizers wouldn’t think the car special enough. And no, before you ask—they didn’t want to run a 911.

With the 912, Kevin says, “We liked the simplicity. We knew that if we needed to drop the motor in the middle of Kazakhstan, we could, whereas a 911, it would be difficult. It’s lighter weight and you don’t need a ton of power for Peking.”

"We wanted it to be vintage, like it would have been in the 1970s, if we were privateers."

Not least for that reason, Cole spent time fixing other cars on the rally—“every single Porsche in that event,” Kevin offers—and the Bradburns donated spare parts to other teams, to help them keep going.

“We roll deep as a family,” the father says. “My father was one of my best friends. He passed away very young, at 49. He was this really adventuresome soul and spirit and on a shoestring budget. And probably because of that, he led us on a lot of different adventures. He used to drag us down to Baja when we were kids, we’d camp out of a Chevy or Dodge van…we had a whole lot of dreams.

"Now, with my kids, it's been trying to chase my father's ghost, to do a lot of the things that he and I had set out to do, where we never got the chance."

The Bradburns have driven the 912 in other overseas historic rallies. And while Kevin has other Porsches, including a few 911s, this one, he says, is different. Special.

He smiles again, shaking his head. “It’s because of the experiences—we’ve now driven this car on, what is it, four continents? It’s literally taken us all around the world.”

that, he led us on a lot of different adventures. He used to drag us down to Baja when we were kids, we’d camp out of a Chevy or Dodge van… we had a whole lot of dreams.