London To Brighton Veteran Car Run 2024

1902 Deckert
1902 Deckert entered by Barbara Dedman

This year’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run which took place on Sunday 3rd November, paid a special tribute to Fiat and the Ladies’ Automobile Club.

Over 350 pioneering veteran cars with their adventurous drivers and passengers, along with crowds of early-rising well-wishers gathered in Hyde Park awaiting daybreak and the start of the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, which is the world’s longest-running and most significant motoring event.

The original Emancipation Run took place back in 1896, 128 years ago, to celebrate the recently passed Locomotives on Highways Act, raising the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ as they were called, from 4 to 14 mph and did away with the need for a man to walk ahead waving a red flag.

1896 Salvesen steam powered vehicle
1896 Salvesen steam powered vehicle entered by Duncan Pittaway
1903 Humber
1903 Humber entered by Martin Tacon

In a nod to that new-found freedom, the annual Veteran Car Run always starts with the symbolic tearing-up of the red flag pre-dawn ritual, which this year also marked the 120th anniversary of the Ladies’ Automobile Club.

So, as daylight finally arrived on a rather unseasonably warm Sunday morning, a group of 25 pre-1905 motor and pedal cycles departed for Brighton.

Then it was the turn of the Victorian ‘light locomotive’ vehicles as they spluttered and hissed their way through Wellington Arch, before heading down Constitution Hill, past Buckingham Palace, Admiralty Arch and Whitehall. It was then into Parliament Square and over Westminster Bridge before the 60-mile route split into two in order to avoid London’s traffic congestion.

1903 Renault
1903 Renault entered by Peter Watters Westbrook
1904 Darracq
1904 Darracq entered by Lloyd Bailey

One half of the field followed the traditional A23 route via Kennington, Brixton and Streatham Common, while the other half drove across Lambeth Bridge and through Vauxhall, Clapham Common and Tooting. The two routes then merged on the A236 just north of Croydon before making their way to Brighton and the Madeira Drive seafront.

The vehicles left London in age order, with the earliest starting first, giving them a head start, which included a single-cylinder 1894 Benz entered by Hermann Layher with a Velo body and single-cylinder, 1.5hp engine. This was followed by the Salvesen Steam Car, which is essentially a steam locomotive running on the road, complete with stoker shovelling eCoal into the boiler made from a combination of olives, coffee and molasses.

Also taking part this year was the legendary c1904 Fiat 130HP, which is one of three team ‘Corsa’ race cars with its massive 16.4-litre engine. In fact, this chain-driven early Grand Prix winner is the most powerful vehicle to have participated in the event and was honouring Fiat’s 125th birthday in 2024.

1904 Fiat
1904 Fiat Museo dell’Automobile di Torino
c1901 Clement-Panhard
c1901 Clement-Panhard rntered by William Draper

There then followed a wide variety of antique machinery dating back to the era of pioneer vehicles. Some of them had steering wheels, whilst others steered with naval-inspired tillers and helms. They were powered by petrol engines, steam and even electric batteries.

The Veteran Car Run always attracts participants from around the world, and this year was no exception, with entries from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. A total of 19 cars even came all the way from the United States.

Over 100 different marques were represented at this year’s event, from Adler, Albion and Argyll to Waverley, Winton and Wolseley. A few, like Cadillac, Ford, Renault, Vauxhall and Mercedes-Benz, are still producing vehicles today, but sadly most of them are now long gone.

1903 Maxim
1903 Maxim entered by Ian Strang
1904 White steam powered vehicle
1904 White steam powered vehicle entered by Robert Lederer

Thanks to the dry weather, the majority of the starters managed to complete the journey to Brighton well before the 4:30pm deadline and therefore able to claim a coveted finishers’ medal. In fact, out of the 369 starters, 325 made it to Madeira Drive, with the first car, the 1899 Panhard et Levassor of Shane Houilhan, reaching the finish in just over three hours.

New RAC Chairman, Duncan Wiltshire, who took part this year in a 1901 Mors owned by the Royal Automobile Club, commented:

“What a fantastic RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run it has been today. The turn-out from spectators was mighty impressive, with huge crowds lining the route all the way. You also have to marvel at the organisation. This is an incredibly complicated event which is seamlessly overseen by more than 300 wonderful volunteer marshals. It is these people who ensure the smooth and safe progress of all these extraordinary vehicles.

“This has been a fabulous way to celebrate 120 years of the Ladies’ Automobile Club, as well as 125 years of Fiat. It was terrific to see the ladies tearing up the ceremonial red flag at the start, and then to see so many of them driving on the Run itself.

“Neither will anyone forget the amazing sight and sound of the Fiat 130HP, as it thundered its way to the Brighton seafront.”

The RM Sotheby’s Veteran Car Run marked the perfect ending to the Royal Automobile Club’s annual London Motor Week, during which the Club held a large number motoring functions and events, including the new free-to-view St James’s Motoring Spectacle that was held on Pall Mall for the first time.

Next year’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run will take place on Sunday 2nd November 2025. For more information, please visit: www.veterancarrun.com.

Author Bio:

Simon Burrell is a UK-based motoring and travel journalist and editor, a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and former saloon car racing driver.

Photographs by Gary Harman

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