Each year the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR) celebrates one of the major motor manufacturing nations of the pre 1905 period and this year it is the turn of France to be recognised.  Twenty four French veteran car owners, many of whom are members of the country's ‘Teuf-Teuf' veteran car club, will be making the trip across the channel to take part in the 2008 LBVCR and 279 of the total 550 entries are vehicles that were manufactured in France before 1905.  

Thirty nine different French marques will be taking the start in Hyde Park and include contemporary brands of Renault and Peugeot as well as names that are not so familiar from the dawn of motoring, such as Bayard, Napoleon, Mors, Georges Richard and Rochet. 

Some of the French manufacturers are represented by just one or two vehicles, many of whom are the only surviving examples of the type.  Other manufacturers have plenty of representation on the event such as De Dion Bouton, with 94 examples the largest group on the 2008 Run; Panhard et Levassor with 40 examples; Darracq with 28; Renault with 27 and Peugeot with 17 examples.  The oldest entry on the 2008 LBVCR is an 1895 Peugeot owned by Evert Louwman and the events most famous car, Genevieve, is a 1904 Darracq.

Of the 24 French entries, the oldest car making the trip is M. Patrick Calzavara's 1899 Rochet-Schneider.  The Rochet-Schneider has taken part in last two London to Brighton events and has reached Madeira Drive on both occasions. M. Klaxinus Noordjik bought his 1904 De Dion Bouton at the Bonhams LBVCR Auction in 2007 and is returning a year later to attempt his first Run in the car since purchasing it for £65,000.  Francois Richer's 1901 Decauville was bought brand new by his grandfather and the car has been in his family for 107 years, but this marks the cars very first London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.  Moulin Rouge CEO Jean-Jacques Clerico has been participating in the event since 1996 and will be driving the 1902 Darracq in which he has reached Brighton every time since 2004.

In addition to the French entries and French cars, dancers from the world famous Moulin Rouge in Paris will be performing that most Gallic of dances, the Cancan, at the Regent Street International Concours on Saturday 1 November.  The dancers will also be at the start and at the finish lines to add that little bit of French charm to the 2008 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.