“ I ’ m known as a Hill Official ,” he says , “ and that means I ’ m in charge of all the marshals who will tow everyone up Hammer Hill .
“ We ’ re on hand to give help to any vehicle and owner who needs it . That means people who know they ’ ve never made it up before , or else their car is sufficiently low in power that it will struggle .”
Entrants are not allowed to use their own tender cars or trucks for towing , for insurance and safety reasons . So Tony ’ s vehicle will do the heavy work . The owner , though , is still required to attach the tow rope , as they know their ancient cars best .
“ We wait until we get a radio request to help them . The wheels of the car don ’ t leave the ground , they don ’ t go on a flatbed or anything . And we ’ re not allowed to accept a tip …”
This is Tony ’ s debut year on the Run , but he ’ s a highly experienced workshop owner and mechanic who seldom leaves home without some back-up oil and water . “ My grandad taught me how to fix cars when I was a child , so I ’ m sure he ’ d be proud of me doing this .”
KEITH RAWLINGS RAC Motoring Services Regional Patrol Leader The Royal Automobile Club and the RAC rescue service separated amicably many years ago , but the London to Brighton Run reunites them for one ,
traditional day as the patrols stand by to assist some of the oldest and most fragile ‘ automobiles ’ in the world .
Keith and his team of 35 patrols are stationed at strategic points along the route , ready with their vehicles to transport any stricken veteran car to the refuge of the next rest stop .
“ We supply three patrols to the start-line , two at Harwoods Land Rover Coulsdon , two at Crawley College and so on with one at the finish line on Madeira Drive ,” says Keith , who has been involved for 16 years and now shares his supervisory role with colleague Anthony Spence . “ Then the rest of the patrols start at Hyde Park and follow everyone down , making sure we ’ ve mopped up everybody .”
However , the patrols will also perform up to 300 minor repairs on the day – attending to water leaks , fixing errant trembler coils , and sometimes dealing with the odd tyre problem . One year , a car was repaired no less than six times with RAC expertise , and thanks to this it did finally make it to Brighton .
“ We build our roster a year in advance . They are all guys who work for RAC , some of them quite longstanding patrols , and we tend to have mostly the same team every year because of all their experience . But we do also try to introduce some younger patrols to team up with the well-experienced ones , so they can learn something about older vehicles . We really like to keep that traditional affiliation alive with the Run .” -
22 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run