The RAC London to Brighton Veteran Car run is held each year to celebrate the repeal of the infamous “Red Flag Act” in 1896. This 1865 Act of Parliament has demanded that any “self propelled road vehicle” was subject to huge restrictions on speed ( 2mph in towns and 4mph in the countryside) and usage. It including the need for a person to walk ahead of any such vehicle displaying a red flag to warn other road users of its presence.
As always in politics it had been strongly lobbied for by those with a vested interest, notably the owners of horse drawn carriage operators and the railways who naturally (and prophetically) had seen a huge threat to their businesses. The laws of unintended consequences meant that it severely crippled the UK Motor Industry and allowed other nations, notably Germany and France, to gain a strong lead in the race for, what was then, a new and revolutionary technology.
Fortunately the inevitable tide of change was responded to by its repeal on November 14th 1986, though a much more realistic speed limit of 14mph was still imposed. This in turn led to huge investment in automobiles which led to it becoming the largest base for European car manufacturing by 1932 and was the largest vehicle exporter in the world during the 1950s. Sadly that all now seems like ancient history.
The Royal Automobile Club has been organising celebratory runs to Brighton since 1930. It is eligible for vehicles that were built before 1905 and this year saw 396 vehicles entered with 349 managing to successfully travel the quite hilly 60 mile route from London’s Hyde Park to Brighton.
As it was the 130th Anniversary of the repeal I thought it would be appropriate to watch the cars passing the building within which the MP’s of the time would have voted it through.
Thus in the early hours of a Sunday morning in November I joined a myriad of other photographers attempting to capture the moments as some of the world’s oldest cars trundled past some of its most famous landmarks.
Here are some of the results.
