Olympian to tackle London to Brighton run

Sir Ben Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, will take part in this year’s London to Brighton veteran car run on 2 November.

Ainslie, who is leading his own team to challenge for the America’s Cup, will be a passenger in the 1904 Panhard-Levassor owned by Lord Irvine Laidlaw – a keen sailor and veteran run regular.

Ainslie said, ‘I am really looking forward to making the trip from Hyde Park to Madeira Drive in Brighton. If it’s raining, I shall feel quite at home with all that spray in my face… the Panhard has no weather protection at all!’

The Panhard is a four-cylinder, 15hp model with an open Tonneau body style. It’s one of 443 veterans taking part in the run.

As is traditional, the event takes place on the first Sunday in November, with the first cars leaving at 7am.

The event celebrates the original Emancipation Run, held on 14 November, 1896, which marked the Locomotives on the Highway Act.

This landmark Act raised the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mpg to 14mph and abolished the need for a man walking ahead of the cars waving a red flag.

The first re-enactment of the Emancipation Run took place in 1927 and it has been held every year since, barring the war years and 1947 when petrol was rationed.

For more details of the Veteran Car Run, the entries and the route visit www.veterancarrun.com.