From before dawn on Sunday, 3 November, London’s Hyde Park will be full of the sights, sounds and smells of the dawn of motoring, as 400 intrepid drivers ready themselves and their pioneering machines for the annual RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Then as the sun rises at 7:00am all the participants will set off on the historic 60-mile journey to the Sussex coast.
 
That start follows the symbolic tearing-up of the red flag. This year the long-established ritual – which kick-started motoring freedom in the Victorian era – will pay tribute to the 120th anniversary of the Ladies’ Automobile Club, with some of the 50 partaking female drivers performing the ceremonial honours.
 
The Royal Automobile Club, organiser of the revered Veteran Car Run since 1930, was a great supporter of the Ladies’ Automobile Club which was founded at the start of the 20th century by a number of prominent society women with a shared interest in motoring.
 
These pioneering women organised their first driving event 120 years ago in 1904. More than 50 vehicles gathered at the Athenaeum Club on Waterloo Place before driving via Pall Mall, The Mall and Buckingham Palace to the Ranelagh Club in Barn Elms for afternoon tea.
 
By the 1920s more women were being admitted to more motoring clubs and The Ladies’ Automobile Club was eventually absorbed into the Royal Automobile Club. By then, however, it had made a significant impression in recognising women as motorists in their own right for the first time. That important achievement is being lauded on this year’s very special Veteran Car Run.
 
Another major milestone being honoured in 2024 is the 125th anniversary of Fiat. Marking the occasion one of the greatest racers from the early days of motorsport – the mighty Fiat 130HP – will be one of this year’s star attractions on the road to Brighton.
 
The big, red, chain-driven leviathan is making its first ever appearance in the UK following a meticulous three-year restoration at the world-famous Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin. Powered by a monstrous 16.2-litre four-cylinder engine, it will be the most powerful machine ever to have participated in the event.
 
Originally created as one of three team ‘Corsa’ race cars in 1904, the FIAT 130HP reached its zenith in 1907 when its ace driver Felice Nazzaro won all three of Europe’s most prestigious road races. First he won the fabled Targa Florio in Sicily; then the Kaiserpries set on the tortuous 73-mile Taunus mountain track in Germany. And finally, most importantly, the French Grand Prix in Dieppe, where FIAT caused a seismic sensation by defeating the hitherto dominant French on their home soil.
 
While the Fiat will be on pole position among the early starters, as has become a custom in recent years, a small group of veteran bicycles – including eye-catching ‘penny-farthings’ – and motorcycles will be first away.
 
Behind them the evocative field of three- and four-wheelers will all head south through Wellington Arch. The majority of the pre-1905 pioneers are petrol-driven but include a few powered by steam, and even some very early electric vehicles!
 
Moreover, with an eye on the future, increasing numbers of the veterans are running on sustainable fuels. Indeed, all four of the veterans entered by the Royal Automobile Club will be running on just such a drop-in fuel provided by SUSTAIN.
 
Some of the 100+ makes represented such as Chevrolet, Ford, Peugeot, Mercedes and Renault – also celebrating its 125th birthday in 2024 – will be familiar to today’s motorists. But there are plenty of long forgotten marques too: Mors, Berliet, De Dion Bouton, Napier, Lambert and Gladiator to name but a few.
 
The oldest car lining up in Hyde Park – and thus one of the first to leave – is a plucky single-cylinder Benz dating back to 1894. It is entered by Hermann Layher from Germany and is one of more than 70 of this year’s entries hailing from overseas to be part of this world-famous occasion. Some come from as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong and the United States.
 
From Hyde Park, the traditional starting point since 1936, the veterans head down Constitution Hill, passing Buckingham Palace and on to The Mall – roads used 120 years ago by those on The Ladies’ Automobile Club’s inaugural event – before the route splits. Some make their way under Admiralty Arch and into Trafalgar Square, then turn right on to Whitehall, skirting The Cenotaph, towards Parliament Square. Others proceed to Parliament Square via Horse Guards Road.
 
Once the two routes have merged, the veterans pass Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament – where 128 years ago the Locomotives on the Highway Act was passed. This raised the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mph to 14mph and abolished the need for the vehicles to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag.
 
The issuing of the Act was celebrated by the first ‘Emancipation Run’ when 30 cars travelled from London to Brighton. It was held on 14 November 1896, the very day the Act came into operation, and it is that original capital-to-coast escapade that the Run honours to this very day.
 
Once across Westminster Bridge, the route splits into two with half taking the traditional A23 direction via Kennington, Brixton and Streatham. The other half travels along Albert Embankment before heading across Clapham Common and on through Tooting and Mitcham.
 
The two routes merge once again on the A236 north of Croydon with all cars reunited as they head south through Surrey and towards Crawley for the official halfway halt at The Hawth Theatre.
 
Although there’s no public access to the CARS-supported Pit Stop at The Hawth, there will be ample opportunity for spectators in Crawley to get close to the veterans along the town’s Boulevard.
 
Once refreshed, the crews and cars will then head over the scenic South Downs towards the finishing line on Brighton’s Madeira Drive. The first vehicles are expected to arrive shortly after 10.00am and their occupants will receive a hard-earned hot toddy courtesy of Aberfeldy single malt whisky. To be sure of a coveted finishers’ medal, participants need to make it to the seafront before the 4.30pm dusk curfew.
 
There are no special prizes for those reaching Brighton first because the Run is not a race.
 
Aside from the paddocks at Hyde Park and Madeira Drive, the organisers have suggested the following locations as popular viewing points:
 
6:45am                    Ceremonial Tearing of Red Flag, Hyde Park, London
7:00am                    The Start, Hyde Park, London
7:00am – 8:45am    Constitution Hill, London
7:00am – 8:45am    The Mall, London
7:10am – 9:00am    Whitehall, London
7:10am – 9:00am    Westminster Bridge, London
7:10am – 9:00am    Lambeth Palace, London
7:20am – 9:20am    Clapham Common, London
7:25am – 9:50am    Mitcham, London
7:35am – 11:05am  Coulsdon High Street, London
7:40am – 11:05am  Merstham, Surrey
7:55am – 11:35am  Redhill, Surrey
8:10am – 2:00pm    The Boulevard, Crawley, West Sussex
8:25am – 2:10pm    Handcross High Street, West Sussex
8:30am – 2:25pm    Staplefield village, West Sussex
8:50am – 2:35pm    Cuckfield High Street, West Sussex
10:00pm – 4:25pm  Brighton, West Sussex
 
“The magical RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is a truly great British tradition,” enthused Duncan Wiltshire, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club. “Now in its 128th year, it is an extraordinary showcase, celebrating the introduction of motorised transport, and the pleasures and freedoms that the new technology introduced.
 
“This year marks 120 years of the Ladies’ Automobile Club as well as the 125th anniversaries of both Fiat and Renault, two of the world’s most famous car marques. We are delighted to be honouring these significant milestones in 2024. Most of all, though, I would like to thank all our participants, partners and volunteers. Their enthusiastic support makes this unique occasion not just possible but also an extraordinary experience for all involved.”
 
“RM Sotheby’s is enormously proud to be title partner of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run sharing in the unbridled joy that it brings to both participants and the thousands of spectators who line the route” said Malcolm Barber, Senior Consultant at RM Sotheby’s.
 
The Run is just one element of the Royal Automobile Club’s London Motor Week – a seven-day celebration of all things motoring, which includes the Motoring Lectures, the 11th anniversary Motoring Book of the Year Awards, and the Art of Motoring Exhibition, which is taking place at the Iconic Images Gallery, a stone’s throw from Pall Mall. More information is available on the Club’s website and social media, and at www.theartofmotoring.co.uk.
 
Two other highlights are the prestigious RM Sotheby’s London Sale and the exciting new free-to-view St James’s Specacle, both taking place on the eve of the Run, Saturday, 2 November. The former is now set in the five-star surroundings of The Peninsula London in Grosvenor Place and the latter right outside the Royal Automobile Club’s long-time Clubhouse on Pall Mall, which is closed to through-traffic for the duration.