Veteran cars reach Madeira Drive from 10am on Sunday 1 November

The RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} finishes on Madeira Drive on Sunday 1 November. The first cars cross the line from 10am, and the slower ones keep arriving until the run closes at 4.30pm.

Every car on the run was built before 1905. They leave Hyde Park in London from sunrise and cover 60 miles through Surrey and Sussex to the seafront. The organisers say to expect petrol cars, steam cars and a few electric ones, along with early bicycles, penny farthings among them, and motorcycles.

Where to watch in Brighton

Madeira Drive is one of two official paddocks on the route. The other is at the start in Hyde Park. In the paddock you can see the cars up close from behind safety barriers. Cars and bikes that aren’t part of the run won’t be allowed onto Madeira Drive without valid identification, so the organisers ask supporters to arrive on foot.

To see the cars on the move, the official route guide lists St Peter’s Church on York Place (BN1 4GU) as a viewing point, with cars expected there between 10am and 4.30pm. Further up the route they come through Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Clayton Hill and Pyecombe before taking the A23 into Brighton. Programmes cost £10 along the route, with the main stalls at Hyde Park and Madeira Drive.

A van from 1899

One entry this year is Mercedes-Benz’s oldest roadworthy commercial vehicle, an 1899 Benz combination delivery vehicle known as the Ideal Van. It was built under licence in England by London-based Hewetson’s Ltd., the official Benz representative in the UK. It has a 3hp engine and could carry about 100kg of goods on top of the driver. The body comes off in a few steps, turning the van into a two-seat passenger car.

“Cars such as this remarkable Benz combination delivery vehicle provide a wonderful connection with the very earliest days of motoring,” said Duncan Wiltshire, chairman of the Royal Automobile Club.

The van marks 130 years since Carl Benz invented his motorised transporter in 1896. This year’s theme is “Germany: the Birth of the Motorcar”. The run also marks 140 years since the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which Carl Benz patented in 1886.

The run itself commemorates the Emancipation Run of November 1896, when early motorists drove from London to Brighton to celebrate a new law that ended the 4mph speed limit for motor cars. It traditionally takes place on the first Sunday in November and calls itself the world’s longest-running motoring event.