[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o help strengthen its link with the veteran car community, Total will play a significant role in this year’s Run from capital to coast. Appreciating that older cars – the youngest on the Run is 110 years old – are not built to quite the same fine tolerances as modern cars, Total technicians will be on hand at the Run’s halfway Harrods Stop at Crawley ready to provide any practical assistance to the veterans as well as to distribute suitable lubricants as required.
The company will also have a major presence at the end of the Run on Brighton’s Madeira Drive, with lubricants on offer and experts on hand to answer questions from participants. Their facility on Madeira Drive will also double-up as a media centre.
Two Total representatives, meanwhile, will experience the atmosphere and the highs of the Run itself by taking part as passengers on two of the veteran cars.
Marc Smith, General Manager Lubricants of Total UK said: “Total is a world-leading lubricant supplier with decades of experience designing specialist oils for a wide variety of engines.
“Total’s rich history dates back to the 1920’s and since then our engineers have been catering to the needs and specifications of generations of engines, right up to our multiple F1 World Championship wins in collaboration with Williams, Renault and Red Bull.”
As tradition dictates, the first of the 400-plus veterans on the Run will leave Hyde Park at sunrise (06.54) on the first Sunday of November, which this year falls on the 1st.
The Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the pinnacle event in a week of motoring in the capital during ‘London Motor Week’ – a series of events hosted by the world famous Royal Automobile Club which also includes a Motoring Forum, Motoring Book of the Year Awards and the Regent Street Motor Show.
With its unique atmosphere and camaraderie, the Bonhams Veteran Car Run travelling from London to Brighton (staged specifically as a non-profit making veneration) commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896, which celebrated the Locomotives on the Highway Act. The Act raised the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4 to 14mph and abolished the need for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag.
The Emancipation Run was first commemorated in 1897 with a re-enactment following the same route in 1927 and has taken place every November since, with the exception of the war years and 1947 when petrol was rationed. The Royal Automobile Club has managed the Run with the support of the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain since 1930.
About London Motor Week
The Veteran Car Run is an integral part of London Motor Week, which in 2015 incorporates the following events:
- Monday 26 October to 2 November – The Art of Motoring Exhibition
- Monday 26 October – Royal College of Art – Design Presentation Evening
- Tuesday 27 October – The Royal Automobile Club Motoring Lectures
- Wednesday 28 October – Dewar Trophy Presentation Lunch / Motoring Book of the Year Awards
- Thursday 29 October – Royal Automobile Club Motoring Forum
- Friday 30 October – Bonhams Veteran Car Run Auction
- Saturday 31 October – Regent Street Motor Show
- Sunday 1 November – Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
