Over 400 pre-1905 cars entered for the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run on 1 November 2026

The entry picture for the world's oldest motoring event is now set. On 23 October 2026, the Royal Automobile Club confirmed that more than 400 pre-1905 cars have been accepted for the RM Sotheby's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, which runs on Sunday 1 November 2026. Entries closed earlier this month.

This is not a race. Cars leave Hyde Park from sunrise, which the official timetable gives as 6.56 am, and head 60 miles south to Madeira Drive in Brighton. The official start window at Hyde Park runs from 7 am to 8.30 am. The first finishers are expected in Brighton from 10 am, and the organisers say the slowest cars can still be arriving as late as 4.30 pm. That spread is the whole character of the event, because a 1894 single-cylinder car and a 1904 four-cylinder tourer do not travel at remotely the same pace.

What is in the field

Around 100 different marques are represented, and more than 100 entries have come from outside Britain, from Europe, the USA, Hong Kong and Australia. The oldest machines entered are a pair of 1895 Peugeots and an 1894 Benz Velo.

Two cars stand out on provenance. The world's oldest surviving Rolls-Royce, a 1904 10hp, is entered after a three-year restoration and a Pebble Beach class win. A 1904 Rover from the British Motor Museum is also running, billed as the oldest surviving car of its marque.

The other headline entry is a commercial vehicle. An 1899 Benz combination delivery vehicle, believed to be the oldest roadworthy commercial vehicle in the Mercedes-Benz collection, will take the Brighton road. It was built under licence by Hewetson's, the Benz agent in Britain, and sold as the Ideal Van. It has a 3hp engine, could carry about 100kg of goods plus its driver, and its van body could be lifted off to turn it into a two-seat car. Mercedes-Benz is using it to mark 130 years of its commercial vehicles.

The anniversary being marked

The 2026 run commemorates 130 years since the Emancipation Run of November 1896, held after the law requiring a man with a red flag to walk ahead of a motor car was scrapped and the speed limit was raised from 4 mph to 14 mph. It also falls 140 years after Carl Benz patented the Patent-Motorwagen in 1886.

For Indian readers

There is no India-based entry in the overseas list the club has published, which names Europe, the USA, Hong Kong and Australia. That is a shipping and paperwork problem more than an interest problem, because moving a pre-1905 car out of India and back is slow and expensive work.

What is worth watching instead is the standard. Every car must be pre-1905 and must get itself to Brighton under its own power, with no timed stages and no prizes for speed. Indian winter rally season starts soon after this, and the same discipline applies. Originality and a car that actually completes the route count for more than polish.

Spectating in London and Brighton is free. The day before, on 31 October, the free St James's Motoring Spectacle fills Pall Mall from 10 am to 3 pm.

Sources

• News, RM Sotheby's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (official)
• Event Timetable, Veteran Car Run 2026 (official)
• Motoring freedoms celebrated on 2026 RM Sotheby's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, Wheels-Alive
• A 127-year-old delivery van returns to London's streets, IanVisits
• Event Information, Veteran Car Run 2026 (official)