London’s largest and most spectacular free-to-attend car show returns to Pall Mall on Saturday, promising an unmissable celebration of motoring past, present and future in the heart of the capital.
From pioneering veteran vehicles and legendary racing machines to iconic family cars, seminal supercars, cutting-edge electric vehicles and some of the world’s most desirable hypercars, the third St James’s Motoring Spectacle promises to be the most ambitious and diverse yet.
Organised by the Royal Automobile Club with the support of Westminster City Council, the unique event will see the prestigious Westminster thoroughfare closed to through traffic from 10am to 3pm, creating a spectacular open-air showcase that is completely free for everyone to enjoy. No tickets are required.
This year’s Spectacle really will span the full history of motoring, with exhibits showcasing 140 years of automotive evolution and innovation – from the world’s first production car, the revolutionary Benz-Patent Motorwagen of 1886, through to the latest generation of high-performance hypercars.
A host of significant motoring and motorsport anniversaries will also be celebrated along Pall Mall, which will once again host the St James’s Concours – a spectacular beauty parade featuring more than 80 pioneering veteran vehicles preparing to take part in the following day’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
The magical RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run returns on Sunday 1 November with more than 400 pioneering Pre-1905 cars expected to take part in one of the world’s most evocative celebrations of motoring history – honouring two major milestones in the story of the motor car.
It’s the largest entry in the event’s history.
This year marks 140 years since Karl Benz introduced his revolutionary Patent-Motorwagen, widely regarded as the world’s first production car, while it is also 130 years since the landmark Emancipation Run of 1896 – the event that celebrated the liberation of the horseless carriage and effectively heralded the birth of motoring in Britain.
The arrival of Benz’s pioneering three-wheeled Patent-Motorwagen in 1886 marked the beginning of a revolution that would transform personal mobility and ultimately change the world. Ten years later, Britain’s own motoring revolution reached a defining moment with the passing of the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896.
The legislation raised the legal speed limit for light locomotives from 4mph to 14mph and, crucially, abolished the requirement for a person carrying a red flag to walk ahead of every motor vehicle. The new-found freedom was celebrated on 14 November 1896 when 33 intrepid early motorists drove from London to Brighton in what became known as the Emancipation Run.
It is that pioneering journey which the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run has commemorated since 1927, making it not only one of the world’s most famous historic motoring events but also the longest-running motoring event of its kind.
