NEWS
2025 NEWS
A‘ new’ start for the world’ s longest-running motoring event...
The iconic Start from Serpentine Road in Hyde Park has been a famous feature of the Veteran Car Run since 1936. 2025 sees the relocation of that Start— still within Hyde Park— to South Carriage Drive. This road runs parallel to Serpentine Road, so the veteran vehicles will still enter and leave the Park from the traditional, much-loved locations.
However, South Carriage Drive has the advantage that it is a wider, smoother, well-lit carriageway, which makes the entire pre-dawn gathering safer and easier to manage.
In the late 19th century, it was the height of fashion for the members of high society to parade their finest horses on Rotten Row, the sandy strip of land adjacent to South Carriage Drive, and to showcase their horse-drawn carriages along South Carriage Drive itself. By the start of the following century, early motor cars were proudly driven there as well, making it a very fitting starting point from which the pioneering veterans head off to Brighton.
The Veteran Car Run team has been working with the Royal Parks to ensure that the Hyde Park Start causes minimal disruption to the historic site, and we are pleased to have agreed this solution.
South Carriage Drive, Hyde Park.
... and the same finish!
As tradition dictates, participants will once again cross the finishing line on Brighton’ s historic
Madeira Drive. The seafront has carried the Madeira name since 1870, inspired by the luxuriant gardens and subtropical climate of the Atlantic archipelago. By the late 19th century, the ornate cast-iron Madeira Terrace was built to shelter fashionable visitors, while the road was tarmacked in 1905 for the first‘ Motor Race Week’. Officially renamed Madeira Drive in 1909, it has remained central to Brighton’ s motoring heritage ever since.
Years of marine exposure, however, have taken their toll on the Grade II * listed Terrace. Restoration is now underway, with some arches removed for repair. Importantly, the Finishers’ Paddock remains unaffected, ensuring participants can still conclude their 60-mile trek on Madeira Drive. In the meantime, we look forward to when the fully restored Terrace will once again frame this iconic homecoming, looking just as it did in 1896 when the Run began.
Speaking of Madeira, this year the Club is delighted to announce a partnership with Madeira Tourism. The year-round vacation destination offers stunning landscapes, fine food and legendary wines – as finishers of the Run will be able to sample upon reaching Brighton – and a thriving classic car scene, epitomised by the annual Madeira Classic Car Revival.
We look forward to welcoming participants to Madeira Drive on 2 November – now with an added flavour of Madeira itself. visitmadeira. com / en
1901 De Dion Bouton.
16 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run