London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
London, United Kingdom 5 November
GLORIOUS AUTUMNAL skies, golden leaves and a chill in the early Sunday morning air of Hyde Park greeted those intrepid drivers and passengers as this year’s Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run took to the roads of Southern England.
The 2017 Veteran Car Run marks 121 years since the original ‘Emancipation Run’ held in 1896 to celebrate the Locomotive Act, thus making it the world’s oldest motoring event. Since the run’s inception by the Royal Automobile Club in 1930, the route down through London’s suburbs and out into the Surrey and Sussex countryside has followed almost the same route, year on year. For the drivers, names such as Crawley High Street, Hammer Hill, Whitemans Green, Burgess Hill and Pyecombe all have their own appeal and challenges. No sign holds more relief than that directing the drivers to Brighton Seafront and the finish on Madeira Drive, where the customary bowl of warming chilli and a cup of tea await.
The 2017 event had the largest entry for many years with some 401 entries setting off from Hyde Park on a revised 60-mile route that passed through Balham to avoid longterm roadworks in Brixton. Oldest vehicle on the event was an 1893 Peugeot, and notable entrants included 1996 Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill OBE, World Speed Record Holder Andy Green OBE and motorcycle adventurer Charley Boorman.
Sarah Tunicliffe, daughter of Veteran Car Club past president Brian Moore and first lady president Ruth Moore, took an emotional trip on her late father’s Panhard et Levassor, accompanied by current chairman Adrian Goding. Both of her parents recently passed away, having participated in the event almost 50 times in various cars from their collection, and taking Sarah as a passenger when she was a child.
The Moores’ car was usually driven to London from Cambridge, to then drive to Brighton before returning to Cambridge the following day, children, luggage and all. Six weeks ago Sarah decided that in tribute to her parents she should take part with this car and the 2017 event was the first time she had driven it after some coaching in its idiosyncrasies from Goding.
Despite a number of cars being diverted following an accident involving one of the participating vehicles, 317 of the 402 starters made it all the way to Brighton to claim their Finisher’s Medal. This year’s winner of the Chopard Reliability Trial was Robert Abrey driving a 1899 Daimler.
The Run marked the end of the Royal Automobile Club’s London Motor Week – a seven-day celebration of motoring, which included an art exhibition, motoring lectures, a motoring forum and a motoring book awards evening. The run was also preceded by a Bonhams veteran car auction and the free-admission Regent Street Motor Show.