This year’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (Sunday 2 November) will pay tribute to the 125th anniversary of the seminal 1000 Mile Trial of 1900 which concluded on this very day – 12 May – exactly 125 years ago.
Organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, which became the Royal Automobile Club in 1907, the ground-breaking 1000 Mile Trial was a pivotal watershed in the histories of both motoring and the motor industry in the UK and, indeed, further afield.
While the world famous London to Brighton Veteran Car Run annually honours the 1896 Emancipation Run – the momentous moment when motorists were effectively given the freedom of the open road – it was the 1000 Mile Trial, less than four years later, which first introduced the benefits of these new-fangled driving machines to a nationwide audience. Indeed, for many in the land it was their very first sight of a moving car.
Organised both to put these pioneering motor cars to the test and to promote and publicise motoring to the British public, the 1000 Mile Trial followed a route to and from London via Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, Kendal, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. Thousands of curious onlookers packed city and town centres just to watch the cars pass, often with the police keeping the streets clear to allow passage.
The event attracted 83 entries both from embryonic manufacturers and forward-thinking private individuals of which 65 actually started from Hyde Park Corner (where the London to Brighton also starts). By Edinburgh 51 were still running and 35 vehicles actually made it back to the capital for the finish on 12 May, 1900.
“It’s hard to overstate the incredible significance of the 1000 Mile Trial – it really put both the joys and practicalities of motoring on the map,” explained Duncan Wiltshire, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club. “We are forever proud of the special role our Club played in the early days of car culture and we are delighted to be celebrating such an historical milestone on this year’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.”
Two of those original 1899 cars which took part in 1000 Mile Trial are still in existence today: a Daimler 12hp and a Wolseley 3.5hp Voiturette. The Daimler was driven by John Montagu MP and, owned by the Science Museum, is displayed at the Montagu family home in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. The Wolseley, affectionately known as OWL from is registration plate, lives at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon.
Made in Birmingham, OWL was the first four-wheeled vehicle that Herbert Austin designed and it was driven by Lord Austin himself in the 1000 Mile Trial, winning first prize in its class.
Montagu and Austin were far from the only well-known early motorists on the city-to-city tour – others included renowned racer Selwyn Edge aboard a four-cylinder Napier and Charles Rolls driving a 12hp Panhard.
In more recent times, OWL has clocked up no fewer than 39 London to Brighton Runs entered by the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. For a car which conquered the 1000 Mile Trial set largely on the muddy cart tracks of the horse-drawn Victorian era, the traditional 60-mile route from capital-to-coast proves somewhat less challenging even for a venerable centurion.
Marking the special anniversary, OWL will be given pride of position come the start of this year’s Veteran Car Run when it will lead away the incredible phalanx of more than 400 pre-1905 pioneering cars and bikes away from Hyde Park.
The historic Wolseley will also be displayed on dedicated showcase celebrating the 125 years of the 1000 Mile Trial at the Royal Automobile Club’s inaugural Club Concours taking place on its Woodcote Park estate in Surrey on Wednesday 9 July.
Full details of the 2025 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run – Early Bird entries for which are now open – are available at the event website at www.veterancarrun.com.
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