London to Brighton 2016

The 2016 Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run — the world’s longest running motoring event — will celebrate inventor Karl Benz’s 130-year-old patent, granted on January 29, 1886, and the early days of German motoring when the annual pilgrimage of veteran cars recreates itself once again this November 6^th.

The Benz Patent Motorwagen (patent number 37435) was a two-seater, three-wheeler, powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine mounted at the rear. First tests revealed difficulties that were remedied by development so that successful tests on public roads took place in the summer of 1886. Two years and further improvements later, a Mk III version was offered for sale, becoming the world’s first commercially available automobile.

Alongside Benz, of which six examples took part in the 2015 Run, the organizers are hoping that other veteran cars from manufacturers such as Adler, Bergmann, (German-built) Daimler, Lutzmann, Mercedes and Opel will tackle the 60-mile run from London’s Hyde Park to Brighton. Registration for the 2016 Run will open on Monday, March 28.

As always, the Royal Automobile Club event will send the first cars on their way at sunrise as more than 400 three- and four-wheelers make their annual pilgrimage to the Sussex seafront. The Run is open to all vehicles built before 1905 — meaning even the “youngest” cars on the Run are more than 110 years old — and while most will be petrol-powered, steam- and electric-powered vehicles will also be in evidence.

The Run will also be celebrating its own anniversary this year, as the very first “Emancipation Run” from London to Brighton was held in November 1896 — 120 years ago — and marked the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act that 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.

Tom Purves, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: “Karl Benz and his wife Bertha, who, in 1888, undertook the first long-distance journey by car, were far-sighted automobile pioneers… but even they would be amazed by the role the car plays in 21^st Century life. It is highly fitting that the 2016 Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run should honor Benz, his contemporaries and his country’s role in the history of the motor car.”

The Run is just one element of the Royal Automobile Club’s London Motor Week — a seven-day celebration of motoring that includes an art exhibition, motoring heritage lectures, a motoring forum and a motoring book awards evening. The penultimate event in the week is the free-to-view Regent Street Motor Show, on Saturday November 5, turning London’s premier shopping street into a motoring showcase that spotlights both veteran and modern machinery alike. For more details of the event and registration forms please visit www.veterancarrun.com.