One Month to the 76th London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
There is just one month to go until the first of the 556 pre-1905 veteran cars participating in the 2009 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR) leaves Hyde Park to begin the 60-mile journey to Brighton. This year marks the 113th anniversary of the Emancipation Run held on the 14 November 1896, and is the 76th running of the event, making the LBVCR the world's longest running motoring event; sponsored by Sir Ray Tindle and his Tindle Newspapers group, a regular participant in the Run. 

The Run on Sunday 1 November is preceded by two days of activities, with the 2009 LBVCR Auction at Bonhams New Bond Street Salerooms on Friday 30 October and the LBVCR International Concours in Regent Street between 11am and 3pm on Saturday 31 October.

The LBVCR has attracted a maximum entry of participating veteran cars for the 2009 event, including a record 138 overseas entries from China, Australia, USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and Europe, including three entries from Switzerland, the first participants from that country to take part for many years. 

Twenty-five of the European entries are travelling from Belgium, which is the celebrated manufacturing nation of the pre 1905 period this year.  Belgium had a thriving car manufacturing industry at the turn of the 20th Century and rare examples of Minerva, Dechamps, Nagant-Gobron Brillie, Delin and Germain will be seen on the A23 between London and Brighton this November.  To help promote the Belgian theme, The Band of the Royal Forest St Hubert will be performing at the LBVCR International Concours in Regent Street on Saturday 31 October and at the start in Hyde Park on the Sunday

Spectating on the day, and at the Regent Street Concours, is absolutely free of charge. The official route takes in the suburbs of London via Brixton, Lambeth and Streatham on the A23 and on through Norbury to Croydon and then the A235 to Purley reverting to the A23 to Redhill, Horley, Gatwick and onto the official coffee stop outside the George Hotel in Crawley. After Crawley the participants travel through the towns and villages on route to Brighton via Cuckfield and Burgess Hill before crossing the traditional finish line on Madeira Drive on Brighton's seafront.