Hundreds of Victorian vehicles are taking part in the iconic annual journey between London and Brighton.
Author: Katie AhearnPublished 3 hours ago
Hundreds of Victorian vehicles are trundling through Surrey this morning as they begin their iconic annual journey between London and Brighton.
Cars and motorbikes, dating back to before the 1900s, are taking on the 60 mile route to mark the anniversary of what’s considered the turning point for British motoring.
Travelling between Hyde Park and the coast, the vehicles reflect on the 1000-mile Trial of 1900 – in which Britain’s first cars were introduced to the wider population.
They’ll be taking on a route from London, bobbing through Surrey, before hitting Sussex spots including Crawley, Handcross, Staplefield and Cuckfield, eventually arriving into Brighton this evening.
The event is the longest running of it’s kind in the world.
Event is “British” & “bonkers”
Jeremy Vaughan, the Head of Motoring at the Royal Automobile Club said it’s no easy ride:
“You can’t just fire it up in the morning and go down to the shops.
“You need to know a certain amount of mechanical knowledge as there’s probably six or seven procedures to actually start these cars.
“You’ve got to mix the fuel, you’ve got to look at the oil, and then nine times out of 10 you’ve got to get a handle and you’ve got to turn over the engine, then it fires up and then you run back and do some adjustments.
“It’s a big day out and you can’t help breaking down with these things – because they will break down.
“That’s really all the fun of it. It’s British, it’s bonkers.”
The cars will follow this route:
6:45am Ceremonial Tearing of Red Flag, Hyde Park, London
7:00am The Start, Hyde Park, London
7:00am – 8:45am Constitution Hill, London
7:00am – 8:45am The Mall, London
7:10am – 9:00am Whitehall, London
7:10am – 9:00am Westminster Bridge, London
7:10am – 9:00am Lambeth Palace, London
7:20am – 9:20am Clapham Common, London
7:25am – 9:50am Mitcham, London
7:35am – 11:05am Coulsdon High Street, London
7:40am – 11:05am Merstham, Surrey
7:55am – 11:35am Redhill, Surrey
8:10am – 2:00pm The Boulevard, Crawley, West Sussex
8:25am – 2:10pm Handcross High Street, West Sussex
8:30am – 2:25pm Staplefield village, West Sussex
8:50am – 2:35pm Cuckfield High Street, West Sussex
10:00pm – 4:30pm Brighton, West Sussex
Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.
