9 minute read
London To Brighton Five To Look Out For
MEMBERS ENJOYING THE sunshine at Woodcote Park on 21 July were delighted, and a little surprised, to see 15 beautiful veteran cars chugging past the Fountain Terrace. The pre-1905 vehicles were all setting off on the Club’s inaugural Summer Veteran Car Run, which took them on a 40-mile route around Surrey.
Now imagine more than 300 of these remarkable cars streaming out of London and through the Sussex countryside to Brighton, each with its own unique story. Here are five to look out for on the big day.
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LONDON TO BRIGHTON:
FIVE TO LOOK OUT FOR
The RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run takes place on the first Sunday in November. Five of the intrepid motorists tell their story.
Words by Giles Chapman
CAR: 1902 DENNIS TONNEAU DRIVER: JOHN DENNIS OBE
For decades, parents across Britain have been asked by inquisitive children why so many refuse lorries and fire engines are called Dennis. Why not Colin, Percy or Fred? In fact, John Dennis was the founder, in 1895, of the company that made the vehicles. Dennis vehicles continue to be produced but while the Dennis clan is no longer involved, the present John Dennis and his 1902 Dennis Tonneau keep an astonishing tradition going. “I’ve done the Run 61 times in the car since 1959,” he says. “In fact, I’ve done it 63 times because the first two were as a passenger with my dad in the same car, and I was still in short trousers!”
The Tonneau is something of a kit that Dennis’s ancestors assembled. The majority of the chassis was made by France’s Lacoste et Battmann and the engine by De Dion of the same country, while the Guildford-based Dennis company built the capacious body. “It’s probably the most common style of bodywork on the Run. A tonneau is a four or five-seat open car so if it rains, you just get very wet. I’d say about ten of my Runs have been really bad weather days.”
Dennis has five other veteran cars but knows the Tonneau’s limitations like the back of his hand. “It’s only three quarters of a turn lock-to-lock, so the steering is extremely direct. The brakes are not brilliant but that’s par for the course. Then again, you’re only doing 20mph. The car is really not bad for a trade-in that spent 25 years languishing in a corner of the Dennis factory and was somewhat cannibalised for spares.”
CAR: 1903 MMC TONNEAU DRIVER: HENRY LAWSON
The spectacle of the Veteran Car Run in full force leaves an indelible impression on a young mind. On icy Sunday mornings in his childhood, Henry Lawson’s father would take him to the roadside near Brighton where they would watch the old cars roll into town on the last leg of their journey. Subconsciously, Henry was determined to be a part of the Run one day although, in one unexpected way, he already was…
“In about 2000 I told my wife Lindsay I’d like to buy a veteran car that would suit the whole family and, when I happened across a twin-cylinder MMC, it seemed ideal,” he recalls. “A year later, Nigel Parrott, a veteran car horse-whisperer who is a genius at making them run properly, called me and said the only surviving four-cylinder example was also for sale, so I bought that one too. Although it was just four miles from my house, I hadn’t known it existed!”
The family has entered both MMCs on the Run numerous times, although the first car has since been sold. Lawson says old hands decried his 1903 model (its chassis frame and body are made of wood) as practically undriveable but Lindsay has proved them wrong. “It’s taken a woman’s touch to get it to work properly and become one of the fastest cars on the event.” One year, one of the couple’s three sons drove it in the Run. “We’ve all had enormous fun,” says Lawson.
In researching his cars, he was shocked to discover he is related to Harry Lawson, the British businessman and motor pioneer behind the MMC marque. “He’s the entrepreneur/fraudster/visionary – depending on your point of view – who organised the original Emancipation Run in 1896 and the chap who founded MMC. I love to think about that as we cross the M25 at Redhill and leave the suburbs behind us.”
Henry Lawson, pictured with his 1903 MMC Tonneau, is related to the man behind the MMC marque and organiser of the 1896 Emancipation Run Photograph: Rob Cadman
CAR: 1902 JAMES & BROWNE DRIVERS: TEAM BO
Meet Boanerges, affectionately known as Bo; a venerable mechanical steed that’s been in the same custodianship since 1934. The hefty, five-seater James & Browne probably enjoys more outings – often weekly – than any other veteran in the country and has been driven in the Run by more amateurs than any comparable car.
This is because Bo is the mascot of the City and Guilds College Union at London’s Imperial College. Each year on the Run, the Chair enjoys the privilege of taking the wheel, no matter how inexperienced he or she is. In 2021 it was Andrew Beggs and for 2022 it’s Ben Stevens.
“Every Wednesday afternoon we meet up to keep Bo maintained and drive him about,” says Beggs, a graduate in computing. “That’s why we think he’s the most driven veteran car on the Run. We’ll go to the pub in him, get fish and chips and do tourist things around London. It’s great fun.
“When I did the Run last year I’d never driven him before. You need two people up front so that one of them can manage the throttle that is mounted on the steering wheel. Both have to work in sync.” This year, Stevens, a mechanical engineer, is taking charge of Bo, again with no experience of it. “We’ll just have to make it up as we go along,” he admits. “I’m hoping to get some practice but he’s currently in pieces.”
Other members of the team travel in the Student Union minibus, crammed with tools, for back-up. A day’s adventure is, accordingly, always guaranteed.
The University’s association with the Run goes back decades. Striped college blazers are de rigueur (with jumpers and hoodies underneath) and once Bo is safely on his trailer and under a tarpaulin in Brighton (assuming he makes it – in 2021 he conked out in Crawley), a hearty dinner is in prospect, where Bo is toasted with the club tipple: vintage port.
Above: For the students of Imperial College, seen here in 2019, participation in the Veteran Car Run is a long-standing tradition
CAR: 1902 COLUMBIA DRIVER: VANESSA TJEGA
Above: Vanessa Tjega driving in 2021. This year will be the electrically powered 1902 Columbia’s sixth outing in the London to Brighton Run, an odyssey it can accomplish on just one charge. Not much escapes the notice of the most ardent spectators on the Veteran Car Run and the fact this Columbia doesn’t billow blue smoke or make a racket like a Victorian cotton mill betrays its virtuous secret: it’s a zero emissions electric pioneer.
Vanessa Tjega drove it in 2021, when it turned out to be quite an experience. “The car was pretty reliable, although we had a bit of an issue near Crawley; not with the electric motor but with the brakes. It was a little bit scary. The brakes faded away and it wouldn’t go into gear either, so we just had to slow right down. My navigator John was very encouraging. He said there was no rush and we should let people overtake. So I did and then everything seemed to start working properly just before we got into Brighton!”
Owned by Tjega’s adoptive father Bernard Holmes, the Columbia has tackled the Run five times. In 2022 it’s the turn of another family friend to take the tiller. “They are really eager and I’ll be teaching them the controls,” explains Tjega. “Everyone has to get an opportunity. The more you do it, the more interested and involved you get in the whole event. Even my friends have developed a keen interest in veteran cars after they saw me driving.”
Fortunately, whatever challenges the Columbia throws at its rookie driver this year, ‘range anxiety’ (a fear that the battery will run out) will not be among them. In its guise as the Tesla of its times, it can do the whole 50-mile stint on a single charge.
CAR: 1901 MORS DRIVER: BEN CUSSONS
Above: Chairman Ben Cussons guides the Club’s 1901 Mors past the gates of Woodcote Park
Below: When it comes to driving the Mors it’s all hands, and feet, on deck Photographs: Rob Cadman To the casual observer, the 1901 Mors belies its once high-tech status. “It’s an outstanding car; a really special bit of kit that was state-of-the art for 1901 and a very good performer for its year,” declares Club Chairman Ben Cussons, who settles down into its buttoned leather driving seat as comfortably as his favourite armchair.
He has lost count of the number of times he’s driven on the Run. “I’ve been lucky to drive a wide variety of cars over the years, each with their own idiosyncrasies”. The RAC 1 registration number marks the Mors out as a true Club treasure. “The Club bought it 30 years ago because it needed an appropriate car to take part in the Run. That was before my time but it was an inspired choice: you can’t get a better early car. It was just as advanced as the leading Mercedes of the time, with a four- cylinder, in-line engine in front rather than underneath, pneumatic tyres and a steering wheel instead of a tiller. It’s effectively the layout that became the modern car.”
The Mors may not be too quirky but driving it needs conjuring skills. You use your left leg on the clutch, steer with your left hand and change gear and brake with your right hand. An extra pair of hands for the manual brakes and throttle would help. “You just have to plan ahead and anticipate,” Cussons explains. “It’s quite a quick car. It would be easy to get down to Brighton in no time if you had an early start number but I love to take my time. There are 364 long days to wait for another chance to enjoy it.”
The RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is taking place on Sunday 6 November, starting from 7.02am on Serpentine Road, Hyde Park, London, and arriving in Madeira Drive, Brighton between approx. 10.00am and 4.30pm.
