VETERAN CAR RUN SPECIAL
Veteran heroes bask in unusually fair weather on this year’s 60-mile run from capital to coast
The RM Sotheby’s Veteran Car Run kicked off on the Saturday morning with a public concours of cars parked along Marlborough Road opposite St James’ Palace. Bustling crowds moved through the busy thoroughfare lined with automobiles, all of which were more than a century old. Enthusiasts young and old enjoyed the mixed display of cars that had braved the Saturday’s rain to showcase their early engineering while master mechanic Edd China and horticultural hero Alan Titchmarsh were on hand to judge the concours.
Edd told CCW: ‘It’s great to be back, and there are still some surprises coming through despite all of these cars being more than 100 years old. There is a motorcycle down there whose rider has managed to get the 1910 coat from the original owner for this event. There’s a few cars running synthetic fuels, too, which is brilliant. We can’t be caught napping and regulation is going to come in at some point so this proactive approach is reassuring as a part of the future.
‘I’m not on the run this year, but have been a part of it for five years now!’ Alan Titchmarsh added: ‘I’ve had vintage cars for some 30 years now. I started out with a 1928 Morris Cowley before graduating to all manner of cars. And equally, keeping older cars going is sustainable – a unique form of recycling!’
We also bumped into 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill amid the bustling crowd. He told us: ‘I’ve done this before, a few years back with Charlie Boorman. It was absolutely freezing but to see it still going strong is remarkable and a real treat!’
‘WE’VE GONE FULL CIRCLE’
‘It’s reliable. Most of it is original with the exception of the batteries, so the range is decent’ Said , prewarcar.com managing director, Laurens Klien, of his 1902 Columbia electric car: ‘It’s not very quick. You essentially have three speeds, not gears. First is 25v, second is 50v and third is 100v, so for hills you just leave it in “third gear” as opposed to shifting down. It’s strange to start with, as is having no engine braking, though thankfully it has big brakes. I’m used to driving single-cylinder cars of this age and you get used to the “put-put-put” so this is very strange because it is so quiet. Many cars were electric in the early days and now we have gone full circle. The car would need a charge halfway before we updated the batteries; there are pictures of the driver stopped, with it plugged into a petrol stationary engine and waiting with a pint of Guinness in hand!’
AND… ACROSS THE LINE!
