FEATURE
Top left : Oliver guiding the De Dion down the Mall ; top right : Katie at the wheel in Crawley ; above left : trying out their new car in 2003 ; above right : the Pritchards and Smarts at Brighton – Katie and her grandma Eleanor are on the far right ; right : the plaque on the De Dion .
loose sense . I was probably about five or six in that photo so I ’ ve no idea how that even worked because I know how heavy the steering is !
‘ I would say our De Dion is relatively intuitive to drive . We ’ re not using a tiller and we ’ ve got three gears and reverse , which is quite lucky . The only thing that I really had to think about was learning how to slow down . Obviously , it ’ s not like in a modern car – there ’ s a series of things to do , which actually took me quite a while to get to grips with . You really need to slow down very , very far in advance . Once I got the hang of that – which , I ’ m not going to lie , was fairly recently because I don ’ t drive it that much – it ’ s an unbelievably good feeling .’
Having previously been accompanied by their dad , 2021 was the first year that Katie and Oliver ‘ went solo ’ and did the whole Run without him . They were joined by their respective partners , Patrick and Sadie , and the De Dion ran perfectly all the way to Brighton .
The event has clearly got under their skin , and they ’ ll be back this year to take it on once again . An outing on a summer rally inevitably uncovered
a few minor jobs that needed to be done on the car beforehand , but Katie is confident that it will be ready to line up in Hyde Park .
‘ I think the appeal of the Run is down to a variety of things ,’ she concludes . ‘ The whole history of the event is fantastic , as is the way that it ’ s been passed down through the generations . I ’ m really grateful that we were encouraged to drive by my dad , but also – in particular – my Uncle Harold . I love that these cars have been part of my family on my mum ’ s side . Her parents – Peter and Eleanor Pritchard – were heavily involved with my uncle ’ s car in the past and we still have a lovely little plaque , which has got a bit corroded over the years , on the car , which says it ’ s from my grandpa and grandma . I know my grandma would love to see it continue and my uncle will as well , so I just hope in the future that we can pass it down to subsequent generations .’ -
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