London to Brighton

The essential guide to this year’s Veteran Car Run

FHere’s your essential guide to the world’s oldest motoring celebration – see you there!

ew events are as special as the London to Brighton Run, which returns this Sunday (5 November). The rest of the year it’s a rare treat to see even a couple of cars as old as those, which date from 1904 at the latest, on a run. So it’s easy to see why this 400-strong motoring extravaganza is so highly regarded by car fans across the globe.

The run commemorates the passing of the 1896 Light Locomotives on the Highway Act, which raised the speed limit for cars to 14mph from 4mph – a speed set so a man could walk in front of the car waving a red flag, which is why the run begins with tearing up a red flag. It is the world’s longest-running motoring celebration and the definitive veteran car event in the calendar.

This year, the run draws special attention to France’s contribution to the development of the motor car. In 1903, half the cars in the world were made in France, by familiar names such as Peugeot and Renault and extinct marques like De Dion-Bouton and Léon Bollée.

Starting in Hyde Park, the route changes slightly this year to avoid roadworks in south London, but otherwise follows the familiar path to Brighton via Crawley. Spectators line the route to watch the cars, which finally regroup at Madeira Drive in Brighton.

The event itself is non-competitive, but three-quarters of the entrants take part in the Chopard Regularity Time Trial. This recent addition sees drivers compete to maintain a pre-selected average speed over a 13-mile stretch between Crawley and Burgess Hill.