With a partnership that has run for more 30 years, Renault will once again be proud sponsors of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2015.
The Renault group will be entering its 1900 Type C into its long-standing heritage trial on the 1st November 2015. The historic vehicle will be driven by Alasdair Worsley, Chairman of the Renault Owners Club and an expert in both the run and the Type C.
The Renault Type C was first revealed in April 1900 at the Vicennes Car Show as part of the World Exhibition in Paris. For its time, the vehicle was very advanced with an innovative cooling system using water. This resulted in the bonnet being a square shape which was seen as ‘unusual’ for that period. Like its predecessors, the Renault Type A and B the chassis was designed the same. However, the Type C was longer and larger with availability in three forms – a convertible with removable back seats, a ‘barrel’ four-seater and a coupe with two and three seats.
The Type C was triumphant in many reliability and time trials such as the Paris-Bordeaux in the early 19th century and came with a 4,500 ancien Francs price tag (approx £13,000 in 2015). This led to early commercial success for the car maker with a quick 350 customer orders for the Type C.
With as many as half a million spectators expected to line the route, the first cars will take off from Hyde Park just before 7am. The course will see the Type C travel through central London passing Buckingham Palace and towards the Imperial War Museum, before heading south towards Croydon, Purley, Redhill, Crawley and onwards to the finish line on Madeira Drive, Brighton.
Jeremy Townsend, Communications Director for Renault Group UK said that it was “fantastic” to be a patron once more for the Veteran Car Run and that the Type C is the “epitome of the great resilience shown by Renault; being one of the few motor manufacturers created before the 20th century and still going strong now”. The main man on the day Alasdair Worsley added that “driving the Type C on such an iconic run will be an absolute pleasure” and that he is “confident in the Type C’s ability” to get him to Madeira “without a hitch”.
Bonham’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the re-enactment of the Emancipation Run which first took place on the 14th November 1987 to celebrate locomotives on the Highway Act which increased the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mph to 14mph and eliminated the need for vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag.