RM Sotheby's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2023

BGUK_2768723 - With its unique atmosphere and camaraderie, the RM Sotheby’s Veteran Car Run from London to Brighton (staged specifically as a non-profit making event) commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896, which celebrated the Locomotives on the Highway Act. The Act raised the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4 to 14 mph and abolished the need for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag. The first commemoration of the Emancipation Run was held in 1897 with a drive to Sheen House in Richmond Park. Then, in 1927, the inaugural re-enactment followed the original Brighton route and has taken place every November since, apart from the war years and 1947 when petrol was rationed and 2020 during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The Royal Automobile Club has managed the Run, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2021, with the support of the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain since 1930. Following the symbolic tearing up of the red flag, as the sun rises at 7:00am all the participants set off on the historic 60-mile journey to the Sussex coast. 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, this year increasing numbers of the veterans are running on sustainable biofuels. Some of the 100+ makes represented such as Chevrolet, Ford, Renault, Peugeot and Mercedes will be familiar to today’s motorists. But there are plenty of long forgotten marques too: Mors, De Dion Bouton, Covert, Alldays and Gladiator to name but a few. This year a number of veteran cycles and motorcycles joined the Run: eye-catching penny-farthings and the legendary 1903 Dreadnought, hailed as the first motorbike built for competition. From Hyde Park, the traditional starting point since 1936, the veterans head down Constitution Hill, passing Buckingham Palace and on to The Mall, before making their way under Admiralty Arch and into Trafalgar Square. They then turn right on to Whitehall, skirting The Cenotaph, towards Westminster Square. Once there, the veterans pass Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament – where 127 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.