There were no rules in the race, except that the first car to Paris would win the prize of a magnum of Mumm champagne. The race went without any assistance through countryside where there were no roads or roadmaps. For the race, camels carrying fuel left Peking and set up at stations along the route, to provide fuel for the racers. The race followed a telegraph route, so that the race was well covered in newspapers at the time. Each car had one journalist as a passenger, with the journalists sending stories from the telegraph stations regularly throughout the race.

Un mutilato di guerra compie il giro del mondo a piedi. L'aviatore francese Jules Pernot, amputato delle due gambe durante la guerra, è arrivato ieri a Vancouver, proveniente da Yokohama. Jules Pernot, che ha le due gambe di legno, compie il giro del mondo a piedi per vincere una scommessa.

When I was but a little child, I had already a strong desire to see the world. Whenever I met a travelling-carriage, I would stop involuntarily, and gaze after it until it had disappeared; I used even to envy the postilion, for I thought he also must have accomplished the whole long journey.
Pfeiffer, Ida (1852). Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North. London: Ingram.