Run organiser stephen Smith( left) presents the‘ Oldest Classic’ award to Andrew Connell for his 1936 MG PB.
400GT which was once owned by Brian Clements, a screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on The Avengers and The Professionals. Another car that had links to the world of film and television was Panos Mavroudi’ s 1970 Alfa Romeo Giulia which was used as an Italian police car in the film‘ The Italian Job’. One car that deserves a special mention is Anthony Connel’ s 1936 MG PB Supercharged which took the award for the oldest car taking part in the event. Even more impressive is the fact that Anthony has owned the car for 50 years and he drove it all the way from Norwich to take part in the run. Another special mention goes to Nigel Fisher and his wife who had driven their Rolls Royce Shadow One down from Hertfordshire for the weekend. Their car had the honour of wearing the‘ No1’
rally plate for the run, but this was actually the 24th time the couple had taken part in the London to Brighton Classic Run, an impressive record, only ever missing one year since the event was started. I caught up with the event organiser Stephen Smith for a few words, and he seemed fairly happy with how things had gone. I mentioned earlier that the use of the racecourse as the finishing point proved to be a talking point with some of the crews, some of whom told me they preferred it when it was down on the sea front. From a personal viewpoint, I can see where they are coming from, but I can remember standing in the wind and rain on Madeira Drive at last year’ s L2BCKSCR and would have gladly swapped it for the comparative luxury of the race course. It was the event’ s 25th anniversary and it would have been ruined if everybody had to stand around in the rain, so the organiser should be applauded for taking the bold move to relocate for this year’ s run. The good news for those that preferred the old finishing point is that next year should see a return to Madeira Drive, so don’ t forget your bucket and spade... and your umbrella too!
July 2013 67