Earlybird Entries for the 2026 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run are now open. Following the success of last year’s Run, the organiser, the Royal Automobile Club, anticipates a strong field of ‘horseless carriages’ from the dawn of motoring for this autumn’s event on Sunday, 1 November.

The annual showcase is the world’s longest running motoring event, and continues to bring enormous pleasure to veteran car owners and the tens of thousands of onlookers who always line the historic route from capital to coast.

Last year’s Run attracted some 400 pre-1905 vehicles gathering in Hyde Park for the traditional dawn start. More than 100 entrants travelled from overseas, with 24 cars coming from Germany, 13 from Ireland and 26 from the USA.

The so-called Emancipation Run took place in November 1896 – 130 years ago this year. It effectively ended the horse-drawn personal transport era, and celebrated the Parliamentary signing of the Light Locomotives on the Highway Act.

This raised the speed limit for cars from 4mph to 14mph and removed the need for a person to walk ahead of a vehicle with a red flag.

Early motorists drove from London to Brighton en masse, and British motoring was born. The Run today follows an almost identical route each year in commemoration. Moreover it also honours the watershed removal of those draconian regulations with the ritual tearing up of a red flag before the start at daybreak (see photo above).

Entrants for 2026 can take advantage of a discounted ‘Earlybird’ offer if booking before Wednesday 17 June. There is also a further discount for those participating on the earliest vehicles (pre-1900) as well as on three-wheelers and veteran motorcycles from the same pioneering period.

Adding to the spectacle, the organisers are once again welcoming a limited number of plucky cyclists riding veteran bicycles – including entertaining penny farthings – to join the festivities.

“The Veteran Car Run is one of the most cherished celebrations of motoring heritage anywhere in the world,” said Duncan Wiltshire, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club. “Marking the 130th anniversary reminding us of the seminal moment when the motor car gained the freedom of the road.”

The RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run comes at the conclusion of the Royal Automobile Club’s London Motor Week, which also features awards ceremonies, the Art of Motoring exhibition, and the St James’s Motoring Spectacle, a free-to-attend event on Pall Mall in central London. Another cornerstone of London Motor Week is the RM Sotheby’s London Sale of collectors’ cars taking place at the prestigious Peninsula Hotel.