London to Brighton Historic Commercial Vehicle Run

We report on the 60th running of the London to Brighton Historic Commercial Vehicle Run which, this year, had 170 entrants.

It was 60 years ago that the first Historic Commercial Vehicle Run took place, on Sunday May 13th, 1962. Founded in 1958 as the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club following a rally the previous year at Lord Montagu’s Beaulieu, the early runs started from the former Transport Museum at Clapham.

A change of date from the first Sunday in May to the second Sunday has proved the right decision, following the bad year when entrants were stuck in traffic queues for a giant car boot sale just south of Crawley, and fighting with bank holiday weekend traffic to the coast. 

The only negative now is the smaller amount of available space when hiring Madeira Drive for the day, due to the city’s council inaction over restoring the famous arches; a long-time classic backdrop to vehicles displayed at the end of the run, but now sheeted-off. This considerably reduces the width of the drive, and results in some horrible ‘pinch points’ for vehicles to snake through between the finish line and their allocated parking areas. As to the form-filling paperwork required by the city’s ‘green’ council, which include such gems as ‘Do your generators use bio-diesel?… the less said, the better…

A total of 180 vehicles had been registered for the run and the organisers had already been informed of 10 that would not be participating due to mechanical (or human) failures, thus 170 vehicles were expected to cross the finish line.

The route south has now eliminated the previous halfway stop in Crawley High Street. Participants now leave the A23 at the northern end of Horley and use the B2036 down to Balcombe, Cuckfield, Burgess Hill and Hassocks before climbing Clayton Hill on the South Downs and rejoining the A23 at Pyecombe for the final leg into Brighton. With no marshals or signs on route, it seemed to be down to individual drivers to find their own way via this route – they certainly didn’t all go the same way!

First over the finishing line were the usual suspects – the zippier of the military vehicles and the little GPO Morris vans.

Congratulations have to go once again to Fraser Clayton and his organising team of officials, as well as the two Brians in the commentary bus – seasoned veterans Johnson and Tullett – who kept everyone informed throughout the day.

The sun shone and the event was once again a good advertisement for the vintage vehicle movement.

 

The event report comes from the latest issue of Old Glory, and you can get a money-saving subscription to the magazine simply by clicking HERE