KEEPING IT LIGHT IN THE HYDE PARK DAWN
Your clued-up Master of Ceremonies in Hyde Park this morning is Peter Card who, as Giles Chapman discovers, knows why the light of the early morning matters so much to car owners and spectators …
Far left: Peter Card arriving at the finish in Brighton in 1998, driving his 1903 De Dion Bouton.
Left: Peter Card, Master of Ceremonies.
If you’ re at the Veteran Car Run start this morning, it’ s the voice of Peter Card you can hear above the mechanical hubbub, providing an expert commentary and analysis on the departure. You’ ll never find his soundtrack boring because he spends a lot of time beforehand finding the right people to interview.
‘ I’ ve never been frightened about talking in public but it’ s all down to preparation,’ he says.‘ You’ ve got to ask the questions the public want to hear the answers to, and I like to find characters who I can have a fun conversation with but also develop some pertinent points.
‘ So if I’ m talking, say, to Michael Edwards, who’ s on the Veteran Car Club Dating Committee, then I know he knows that De Dion Boutons come in various engine sizes, but I want him to explain it to everyone.’
So, beware if you’ re an owner or historic car figure with information to impart; Peter will get it out of you.
‘ One year I asked Charles Brooks, son of the late auctioneer Robert Brooks, who was driving his early Peugeot to explain how hot tube ignition worked. At first, he was a bit reluctant but then he gave a very good description of its shortfalls and its benefits – the best I’ ve ever heard. Finding the best people to engage with like this helps me keep people entertained.’
Naturally, Peter is up super-early for his important annual role, roving mike in hand and out at 6am as the cars begin to muster for departure. The breaking daylight must surely take him back to his student times in the 1960s, when he could be found sifting the grubby junk stalls of the Portobello Road antiques market in the gloom.
‘ I didn’ t have much money, and one day I found some interesting old car lamps which I bought for a few shillings. Then slowly but surely I ended up with quite a collection by the mid-1970s.
‘ Very little was known about them. It was virgin territory, really, in terms of information. I’ d started working as a computer systems analyst with ICL and my shift patterns gave me some free time. So one evening I sat down and started writing about them.’
With free use of his commuter train season ticket, on non-shift days Peter took himself to the old Patent Office in London’ s Chancery Lane to investigate patent numbers stamped on some of his lamps. Many of the records the staff brought up from the cellar had never been opened.‘ It was amazing; I
42 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run