parked, almost improbably, beside McLaren’ s 2025 Formula 1 car.
There was a particularly evocative Sir Henry Segrave connection, too, with two significant Sunbeams on display. His 1926 record-breaking Sunbeam Tiger‘ Ladybird’ stood alongside the Sunbeam Grand Prix‘ Strasbourg’, one of four cars built for the 1922 French Grand Prix and raced by Segrave himself. Together, they offered a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of speed, from Grand Prix racing to outright Land Speed Record attempts.
The Macallan Spirit of the Show went to a 1926 Amilcar, while the Chairman’ s Choice landed, delightfully, on a 1970 Plymouth Superbird – an appropriately eclectic choice for an event that refuses to be defined by any single era or marque.
Between the anniversaries, the auction and the sheer breadth of metal on the grass, the second Club Concours didn’ t just repeat its debut success. It suggested the beginnings of a fixture – one the Club, and the wider concours calendar, will be building around for years to come.
And in the context of the Veteran Car Run, it makes for an appealing reminder of the journey itself: from the pioneering veterans that established the automobile on Britain’ s roads, through a century of racing, engineering and design, to the remarkable machines gathered at Woodcote Park today.-
30 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run