6th November 2022
On the first Sunday of November in most years since 1927 the London to Brighton run takes place mostly following the old A23 road. It celebrates the occasion of the 1896 “Emancipation Run” marking the passing of the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896, which liberalised motor vehicle laws in the United Kingdom. Qualifying cars have to pre-date 1905 and the approximately 54 mile run is said to be the world’s oldest motoring event.
I remember being taken as a child to some point on the route to watch the cars go by and there is some rather flickery footage taken from 8mm cine film linked to below. At some point in the 80s or early 90s driving down there myself and then on to see the cars arrive in Brighton, I probably have some photos somewhere.
Cine Film from 1980/82
I hadn’t been back to watch the run for a very long time so decided this year to drive down to Staplefield which has a nice straight road through the village from which to view and photograph the cars passing through. The experience was very similar to the earlier visits, i.e. much of the time it pissed down with rain! What has changed is the technology available, not just for capturing video and photographs of the run but in some cases as you can see below the use of LED lighting on the cars. Probably very wise in modern traffic and weather conditions.
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2022 part 1
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2022 part 2
And if you aren’t into watching the videos here are a few (19) of the 100+ photos that I took whilst standing in the rain so you didn’t have to!
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