The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR), the world’s oldest automotive event, showcased the resilience of historic vehicles as Mercedes-Benz Classic completed the 96-kilometre route on November 3, 2024, with a 120-year-old Mercedes-Simplex 28/32 hp from 1904.
This iconic event, held annually on the first Sunday of November, attracts over 300 classic vehicles built in or before 1904. The run began at sunrise from Hyde Park and concluded on Brighton’s scenic seafront.
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At the wheel of the Mercedes-Simplex was Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH, joined by media representatives and supported by Mercedes-Benz Classic Center experts, who prepared the vehicle onsite.
The day prior, LBVCR organizers presented participating vehicles at the St James’s Motoring Spectacle on Pall Mall, close to Buckingham Palace. Mercedes-Benz Classic also displayed a 1955 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Formula One car and a 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT, highlighting the brand’s history from its origins to its modern era.
The LBVCR celebrates its roots in the 1896 “Emancipation Run,” which marked a new era in British automotive history by celebrating the lifting of the “Red Flag Act” of 1865. This Act had required a person with a red flag to walk ahead of motor vehicles as a warning.
The tradition of tearing a red flag at the start of the race commemorates this breakthrough moment in transportation. Gottlieb Daimler, the legendary automobile pioneer, was present at that original run.
His Mercedes-Simplex went on to become an engineering marvel, introducing design principles still relevant today and breaking from the coach-like designs of its time, solidifying its status as one of the first true automobiles.
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