Drivers gearing up for the Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

Drivers gearing up for the Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

The drivers of hundreds of veteran cars are eagerly preparing for the annual Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run which will take place this Sunday, 1st November.

The Rally, of which Vauxhall is a Manufacturer Patron, will feature over 400 pre-1905 vehicles, including a 1904 6hp single-cylinder two-seater Vauxhall which belongs to the British car maker.

As dawn breaks at 6:54am, the first car will leave Hyde Park in central London, followed by a huge variety of three and four wheel veteran vehicles over the following few hours.

The 60-mile route will pass by Constitution Hill, alongside Buckingham Palace and on to The Mall before heading through Parliament Square and past Big Ben on their way to the coast.

The cars and their drivers will then join the A23 to head south towards Croydon, Purley, Redhill, Crawley and finally Brighton.

Numerous viewpoints along the route are expecting to facilitate thousands of spectators, watching the vehicles on their way. The earliest finishers are expected to arrive at Brighton's Madeira drive from 10am, with others taking hours longer.

Ben Cussons, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club's Steering Group for the Veteran Car Run commented: "The Bonhams Veteran Car Run is a glorious celebration of the motor car and a tribute to those pioneering 'automobilists' without whom motoring today might be very different.

"I'd also like to say a special 'thank you' to all those taking part in the Run: we think nothing of driving the 60 miles to Brighton in a modern car, but to undertake the trip in a sometimes temperamental vehicle that's at least 110 years old with rudimentary brakes, steering and suspension and no weather protection takes a special kind of person."