The great British weather!!!

The great British weather did its best to upset the 76th running of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run but the true grit of the 484 participants who crossed the start line in Hyde Park shone through. The veteran cars and their passengers endured the driving rain and gale force winds, with the extreme conditions causing some mechanical problems amongst the unique collection of late 19th and early 20th Century vehicles However an impressive 375 vehicles shrugged off the challenges thrown at them to cross the finish line before the official 4:30pm close.

The cars that finished included the youngest and oldest drivers on this year’s event. Sir Freddie Sowrey (85) crossed the line in his 1901 Darracq and Rowan Lawson (17) steered the family 1902 M.M.C. to Brighton, complete with ‘L’ plates and father Henry at his side. Sir Ray Tindle, Chairman of the event’s title sponsors Tindle Newspapers, also completed his 46th London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, battling through the difficult conditions in his open top 1904 Speedwell alongside his son Owen.

Sir Ray Tindle said: “In my 46 years of taking part on the Run, this is certainly the worst weather we have ever faced. It is therefore a testament to the true grit, both of the participants and of all those involved in supporting them, that the Run went on to a successful finish.”

John Dennis was another of the Run’s longest serving participants, and also crossed the finish line to record his 50th Run on the 1902 Dennis built by his Grandfather. At the other end of the participation scale, world famous stunt rider Eddie Kidd also reached the finish line in Brighton to complete his first Run alongside Lloyd Bailey in a 1904 Pope-Tribune, raising plenty of funds for the Eddie Kidd Foundation in the process.

The bad weather did however bring some great national media coverage for the event. Images of intrepid veteran car owners battling the elements adorned the Monday morning pages of the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Independent, the Sun and on the front page of The Times. The BBC also broadcast a video clip on local, national and online news.

“This year the weather was certainly against us but this made the participants even more determined to reach Brighton and will probably go down in LBVCR folk law as ‘the great blow of ’09,” said LBVCR Event Director Roger Etcell. “We were extremely pleased to see Sir Ray Tindle reach the finish line to complete his 46th Run and, on behalf of The Royal Automobile Club, I would like to thank Sir Ray and Tindle Newspapers for their continued support of this wonderful and unique event. In fact the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run couldn’t be staged without the support of all our sponsors and I’d like to take the opportunity to also thank Bonhams, Renault, Hagerty, RAC, Kuoni, Haymarket, Castrol, 3-IN-ONE, Baillie Gifford and Turtle Wax for their help in making the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run such a success. The 77th LBVCR will be held on Sunday 7 November 2010 and we look forward to welcoming everyone back next year.”

Alvin Stardust to Participate in this year's Run

Singer and actor Alvin Stardust joins a growing list of celebrities joining the Run and will be a passenger on a 1902 Westfield, the only surviving example of the American make and in aid of BBC Children in Need.

The car’s owner offered a prize to be a passenger sitting alongside the singer for a charity auction with the proceeds going to Children in Need and the owner's local school. The prize also included a place at the annual Dinner and Dance of The Veteran Car Club later that evening in Brighton.

Eddie Kidd to Participate in this year's Run

Stunt riding legend Eddie Kidd will be among the 2000 participants on this year's Run when he will be a passenger on a 1904 Pope Tribune two seater owned and driven by Mr. Lloyd Bailey.

Eddie Kidd became a household name across the world, in a career that began in 1970, setting many world records with his dare-devil riding skills as well as appearing as a stunt double for many of Hollywood’s finest. A terrible accident in August 1996, while performing a stunt in Warwickshire, left Eddie in a coma for many months and he sustained serious injuries, including an injury to his brain. He regained consciousness but those injuries have left him confined to a wheelchair. Today Eddie still manages to get around on his quad bike and he spends a great deal of his time working to combat this disability.

His friend Lloyd Bailey came up with the idea to raise money for Eddie's care and to help support the treatment & rehabilitation of stunt performers & professional extreme sportsmen & women through the Eddie Kidd Foundation. The idea is to attract public and corporate sponsorship for their attempt to complete the 60-mile Run and reach Brighton before the 4:30pm deadline. The veteran car has a 6hp, one cylinder engine, which can propel the 105-year-old vehicle to a top speed of around 25mph.

Eddie Kidd said: "I am really looking forward to the London to Brighton Run. I have known Lloyd since I was 16 and he is a treasured friend. He has always had wicked customized cars; l`m sure this one will be wicked too! If I was still riding then we would fly down to Brighton! So I am looking forward to the drive and seeing everyone on the day. Happy Landings!"

"I’ve know Eddie for over 30 years,” said Lloyd Bailey. “He's a great friend and until his horrific accident, he was a super talented stunt rider, known and loved by all. Having been involved in the LBVCR for the past few years, I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to raise some money for the Eddie Kidd foundation by way of sponsorship. It’s a very well deserved charity and I'm delighted to be able to help in this small way and hope everyone will show their support if possible. The LBVCR is always a fabulous day out and although different for the ride he has been used to, I know that Eddie will love it."

If you would like to sponsor Eddie as he attempts to reach Brighton in the 105-year-old Pope Tribune email donations@eddiekiddfoundation.com and for more information on the Eddie Kidd Foundation visit http;//www.eddiekiddfoundation.com

This year's Run will celebrate vehicles manufactured in Belgium

The 1900 Nagant-Gobron Brillie is owned by Philippe Vercruysse from Ohain, near Waterloo in Belgium. The Vercruysse family has owned the car since 1962 and the 109 year old vehicle has the distinction of being the oldest Belgian racing car in existence.

While Belgium’s car manufacturers at the end of the 19th century were not as numerous as their French, British or American counterparts, the contribution they made to the advancement of the early motor vehicle were certainly important.

A Belgian born engineer, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenior, is credited as the first person to demonstrate the roadworthiness of a spark-ignition, petroleum fuelled, motorised vehicle when in 1863 he successfully completed several journeys around Paris in an experimental three wheeled wagon.

Henri Pieper was an armaments manufacturer with a factory in Liège who like a number of others engaged in this trade turned to making bicycles in quiet times. Experiments with both petrol and petrol-electric vehicles began in 1897. In 1900 Pieper produced a 3½hp hybrid car which had an electric motor providing additional power for the small petrol engine when the car was going uphill. Larger cars followed but output seems to have been on a small scale prior to the abandonment of motorcar production. Interest continued in petrol-electric applications and the Pieper 'Auto-Mixte' system was used for commercial vehicles both in Belgium and Britain until around 1910.

One of the most important Belgian makes of car, Minerva, was set up by Sylvain de Jong, established himself in Antwerp as a bicycle maker and repairer. The two-wheelers were sold under the name Minerva, the goddess of craftsmen and artists, and in 1900, Sylvain, and his brother Jacques, built their first motorcar. After 1904, the factory started to produce more and more cars. Two or four-cylinder engines were fitted into the wooden chassis and the quality was on a level with Rolls-Royce or Mercedes. Similarly to all other manufacturers, the Minerva factory also produced sports cars and the cars were regular participants in races such as the 1905 Paris to Bordeaux.

Another major Belgian manufacturer of the period was the 'Fabrique National d'Armes de Guerre', or F.N. for short. In 1895, F.N. produced mainly bicycles, although the first 954cc Voiturette was produced in 1897 and before the First World War, F.N. built 26 different models. In 1902, the wheel was placed at an angle for the first time and, as with virtually all pre-war car manufacturers, F.N. also built sports and racing cars. During the '30s, the European market was flooded with cheap American cars and the last F.N. passenger car was produced in the factory in Herstal close to Liege in 1935. From that point, the company specialised in the production of lorries and buses.

Léon Nagant established his small-arms factory in Liège in 1859, which after 1870 also produced machine tools and electrical equipment. Various prototype motorcars were made from 1896 and late in 1899 Nagant signed an agreement with the French firm Gobron-Brillié to make its cars under licence. This firm had been established in November 1898 and its cars were powered by a unique two-cylinder opposed-piston vertical engine designed by Eugène Brillié. It was aboard a 110hp Gobron-Brillié that Louis Rigolly became the first motorist to exceed 100 miles per hour in July 1904. After 1904 Nagant made conventional cars, of the highest quality, but following the Great War its market dwindled and car production had ceased by 1929.

The Compagnie Belge de Construction Automobiles was founded by the brothers Alfred and Victor Goldschmidt and in Brussels in 1900 they presented their first motorcar under the name Pipe. The first car was powered by a two-cylinder engine which was followed in 1901 by the 15 CV with a four-cylinder engine. This model proved to be a very good racing car and was immediately used to participate in a Paris to Berlin race. Pipe also built cars with powerful engines, such as the 90 CV from 1903 and the 60 CV from 1904, which was fitted with a 13.5 litre four-cylinder engine. During the First World War, the Pipe factory was partly destroyed and car production only resumed in 1921.

Other period manufacturers based in Belgium include Déchamps, which started to produce a motor tricycle and a voiturette from 1899, built in their factory in Brussels.