London - Brighton Car Run Is back

31 October 2014, 11:33 | Updated: 31 October 2014, 11:34

On Sunday 2 November, the Royal Automobile Club’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run will see over 500 Veteran vehicles unite for the 118th anniversary of the event

Cars from around the globe, from as far afield as China, Australia, South Africa, the USA and across Europe will line up to take the start from London’s Hyde Park and embark on the 60-mile historic drive to the seafront at Madeira Drive, Brighton.

The Run takes place on the first Sunday of every November and commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896 which celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act, which raised the speed limit for 'light locomotives' from 4 mph to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot.

The early law required the man on foot to carry a red flag but that requirement was abolished in 1878. The Locomotive Act was still widely known as the 'Red Flag Act' and a red flag was symbolically destroyed at the start of the Emancipation Run as it is today just before the start in Hyde Park.
 

The Route
 
The official route takes in the suburbs of London via Brixton, Lambeth and Streatham on the A23 and on through Norbury to Croydon and then the A235 to Purley reverting to the A23 to Redhill, Horley, Gatwick and onto the official coffee stop outside the George Hotel in Crawley. After Crawley the participants continue south via Cuckfield and Burgess Hill before crossing the traditional finish line in Madeira Drive on Brighton's seafront.