Entries for this year’s legendary Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run open this week. The Royal Automobile Club will be staging the 122nd Run this year on Sunday 4 November.

The history bit.. 

The world’s longest running motoring event commemorates the Emancipation Run of November 1896 which celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotive on the Highway Act. It was this milestone legislation that raised the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mph to 14mph and came after the equally antiquated requirement for a man to walk in front of all moving vehicles waving a red flag had also been abolished.

Now, more than 120 years after that very first Run, hundreds of extraordinary pre-1905 vehicles honour the pioneering spirit and engineering dexterities of those intrepid early motorists on a similar historic 60-mile journey from Hyde Park in Central London to the seafront in the Sussex coastal resort of Brighton.

This year’s Run again will include a well-earned mid-way halt at the ever-enthusiastic and helpful Honda Gatwick dealership where cars can be fettled and motorists refreshed plus a time-honoured checkpoint in Crawley High Street where travellers and spectators all will be well looked after with provisions and entertainment provided by Gatwick Airport.

As in recent years, the Veteran Car Run provides a fitting grand finale to the Royal Automobile Club’s busy London Motor Week – a week in which the celebrated Club presents an array of functions and events to suit all motoring tastes. Of late these have included forums, dinners, trophy presentations, lectures and exhibitions as well as the free-to-view Regent Street Motor Show now held annually on the Saturday immediately before the Run.

Get involved… 

More information on the Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run supported by Hiscox – including full details of how to enter or spectate – can be found on the official website: www.veterancarrun.com.