By John Bottomley, Brooklands Museum motorcycle team
The Annual Veteran Car Run from London to Brighton was sometimes referred to affection-ately as ‘The Old Crocks Race’. That is far from true in every respect.
The first London to Brighton car run was held on 14th November 1896 to celebrate the re-peal of the so-called ‘Red Flag Act’ which had set a speed limit of 4mph for motor vehi-cles on public roads (yes really!).
In 1899 the annual Commemorative Run went to Brighton for the first time. In 1903, the speed limit was raised to 20mph, and the run was ended as it seemed no longer relevant.
But in 1927 it was reintroduced, keeping as near as possible to the original London to Brighton route. Nowadays the run is organ-ised by the Royal Automobile Club (not to be confused with RAC breakdown services)
In addition to the veteran cars, there is a lim-ited number of entries for motorcycle and bicycles of the same era. Entries must have been manufactured before 1st January 1905.
The 2023 run takes place on Sunday 5th No-vember. This year the Brooklands Museum Motorcycle Team decided to make an entry to pair a motorcycle and a pedal cycle as a Team effort. The bicycle comes for the Raleigh col-lection on display at Brooklands. It is a 1901 Raleigh Safety Bicycle and will be ridden by Phil Kirby, a volunteer at the museum. His riding number is 713. To keep it as not only a Brooklands team effort, but a family one as well, the motorcycle will be ridden by John Bottomley who is Phil’s father-in-law. John is the founder of the Brooklands Motorcycle Team.
The motorcycle is a 1903 Dreadnought, the only one of its kind ever built. It was hand made by Harold “Oily” Karslake (left) who developed it from 216cc to 402cc and used it to climb sever-al challenging hills including the famous Porlock Hill. He also rode it in London to Edinburgh trials. In the first London to Brighton Motorcycle run George Brough set the fastest time riding the Dreadnought. The machine now belongs to the Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Club who have loaned it to Brooklands Museum for the run.
John Bottomley (pictured above), still a regu-lar competition rider, is keen to stress that activities such as this are essential to keep older people active and interested. He says, “Although I am approaching my 80th birth-day, I enjoy this sort of challenge. Too many older people retire without any interests or activities and do not get the most out of their retirement years. Doing something like this is good for keeping them active and for their mental health.”
Apart from Phil the cyclist, the other Brook-lands volunteers who form the back-up team are “not so young.” They will drive the ser-vice van along the tender service route to refu-el both riders and machine and provide any
breakdown assistance that may be necessary en route.
The machinery is definitely old, but the riders don’t acknowledge their ages! The motorcycle and bicycle are well cared for; old, but cer-tainly not ‘Old Crocks’. The aim is to get both bikes to Brighton. The time doesn’t
matter. It’s not a race. It’s a challenge and the team sets out to prove that age doesn’t matter either.
Old, maybe. Crocks, no! Race, definitely not.