Time flies, 400 days have gone by since the end of 2014, and it's time to wrap up my journey around the world on a race track in 400 days. I created eight documentaries in a little bit over a year, which are the following: the To the Unfinished Dakar in which I followed the 2015 Dakar Rally; the A Game of WRC which is about the 2015 WRC Rally Mexico; the Senna Forever which explores the home country of the late Ayrton Senna, Brazil; the Incredible South America which recaps my first road trip across South America; the Crazy Boxes on the 2015 Red Bull Soapbox Race; the Counter-steering for the 2015 Canadian Formula Drift; the DTM Dogfight for the 2015 DTM finale in Germany; and the Elysian Fields on the Isle of Man in which I personally experienced the British Isle of Man TT Classic.

My journey started from the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aire, I crossed the 13 countries of South America and the 7 countries in Central America on a single vehicle, then arrived in Mexico. I headed to Cuba afterwards. And I would like to end my journey here, with the word 'CHE' in this red communist state. 'CHE' can be interpreted as 'cars' in Chinese, or 'Che' as in Che Guevara. Yes, Che Guevara.

If you've heard anything about Che Guevara and his friends, you must know that he took a year off from school to travel around South America on a motorcycle with a friend. Or perhaps you've seen the movie the Motorcycle Diaries. It was during that journey Che Guevara realized and felt the crushing burden of the people and formed his views, and shortly after he returned to Argentina, Che Guevara started his life of revolution and he fought all the way until the victory in Cuba. Indeed, travelling is a way to change minds and to forge beliefs, at least it is for me. And the fact that my journey had the same starting point and the end as Che Guevara was just a coincidence.

Speaking of Cuba, the most impressive thing would be the classic cars. I came to Cuba with a lot of expectations was hoping to be able to appreciate classic cars. From what I saw from Havana to Guantanamo, almost half of the cars were American classics, about one-tenth of the cars were classics from the former Soviet Union, 20% of the cars were imports from China, and the rest of the cars bear badges from all over the world. So basically you can see American classics anywhere, from the city highways to the country roads. Most of these American classics were used as taxis, some of them were privately owned, and they all looked fantastic on the outside with a deteriorated interior. Technically speaking, these American classics in Cuba are not entirely classics, years of sanction made it very hard to get original parts to repair and restore these cars, and the Cubans had to utilize their diligent hands and smart wits, along with anything they could get their hands on to keep these old folks running. These cars you can see on Cuba's streets are actually a snapshot of the Cuban history and political environment, sometimes it even feels like that you are in a movie from the 50's.

The drivers on Cuban roads are much more civilized than those in the other communist state across the ocean, China. Cuba is the only communist state on the American continent, but being red or not, the drivers have the same virtue as in the other countries, and they show respect on the road. I sincerely feel that I should not have spent my 400 days on racing-themed documentaries, I should have filmed the real traffic condition in the American countries. There cannot be racing if there is no normal driving. And we are so used to this dilemma created by ourselves. We are unable and unwilling to change it, until we vanish in the traffic. Yes, every honk you hear from a car is a dying scream of a soul.

Don't want to be like this? Actually it's as straightforward as not honking, not flashing the headlights, not rushing through the red light, and not occupying emergency lanes when not needed. And it's only about working our free hands and feet through our brain again. Our actions need to abide to a simple rule, which is to put our feet on the ground, and to provide convenience and safety to the others. This does not require more lectures, more fines or generations of people to come through, the world we live in can be turned around just overnight. We should make an effort to be likeable and to love our own country, and we should no longer envy other countries while loathing ourselves.

Lastly, here's some Che Guevara for everyone, 'Patria o muerte!'. I hope we can all love our home country, change, and care for her with our own hands.

Han Yue

April 2016

From the United States