Over 400 veteran cars leave Serpentine Road in Hyde Park from sunrise on Sunday 1 November. The free Pall Mall car show is the day before, 10am to 3pm.

The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run leaves Hyde Park on Sunday 1 November 2026, with the first cars setting off from Serpentine Road at sunrise, 6.56am. The Royal Automobile Club’s own timetable puts the start window at 7am to 8.30am, and more than 400 veteran cars are expected. Watching is free, with no ticket. The day before, Saturday 31 October, the club’s free St James’s Motoring Spectacle closes Pall Mall to through traffic from 10am to 3pm.

The quick answer

  • Is it on this year? Yes. Entries have closed and the organiser has published the 2026 entry list and timetable.
  • When: Sunday 1 November. Cars arrive in the Hyde Park paddock from 6am and the last ones leave at about 8.30am.
  • Where to watch the start: Serpentine Road, Hyde Park, behind the safety barriers of the official paddock.
  • The day before: the St James’s Motoring Spectacle on Pall Mall, Saturday 31 October, 10am to 3pm, free.
  • Cost: nothing. Neither event is ticketed.

The Hyde Park start

The Run is the world’s longest-running motoring event, commemorating the Emancipation Run of November 1896, according to the Veteran Car Run site. Only cars built before 1905 take part, and some run on steam or electricity rather than petrol. Early bicycles and motorcycles join them.

Detail 2026
Date Sunday 1 November
Start point Serpentine Road, Hyde Park
First cars away From sunrise, 6.56am
Start window 7am to 8.30am on the timetable; 6.53am to 8.30am on the participant route guide
Paddock open Cars arrive from 6am
Distance 60 miles to Madeira Drive, Brighton
Finish First cars from 10am; the Brighton paddock closes at 4.30pm
Price Free

The times come from the club’s event timetable and its 2026 route guide for drivers. Its spectator page says Hyde Park at dawn is “very atmospheric”, and there are two official paddocks where you can see the cars close up from behind barriers: Hyde Park and Madeira Drive.

Last year’s directions page said the cars line up along South Carriage Drive before the start. This year’s timetable names Serpentine Road, which runs along the south bank of the Serpentine, so check the club’s site in the last week of October in case the paddock layout is published.

Which Westminster streets the cars use

The club has not published a 2026 spectator route guide yet. Its 2025 spectator guide took the cars out of Hyde Park past:

  • Wellington Arch
  • Constitution Hill
  • Buckingham Palace and The Mall
  • Whitehall
  • Westminster Bridge

From there the route heads south through Lambeth, Kennington, Brixton and Streatham on the A23. Last year’s guide gave 7am to 8.45am for the Hyde Park section and 7.10am to 9.20am for Lambeth, so the cars are on Whitehall and Westminster Bridge between those times. The 2026 drivers’ guide gives 7.10am to 9.20am for Brixton, which suggests the timings have barely moved.

The Run uses open roads rather than a closed course, and the club publishes no road closure list for it. Expect slow traffic behind the cars on the route between about 7am and 9.30am. For other closures, see our Westminster roadworks and travel page.

St James’s Motoring Spectacle, Saturday 31 October

The Royal Automobile Club holds a free car show outside its clubhouse on Pall Mall on the eve of the Run, now in its third year. The club’s Spectacle page gives the 2026 details:

  • When: Saturday 31 October, 10am to 3pm. The club’s August press release said 4pm, but its event page and timetable both now say 3pm.
  • Where: Pall Mall, which is closed to through traffic for the day.
  • What: more than 150 cars last year, drawing more than 12,000 visitors. This year there is a larger Formula 1 display for the centenary of Britain’s first Grand Prix, the St James’s Concours of veteran cars at one end of the street, and the RAC’s British Grand Prix trophy.
  • Price: free.

Also that week, the club’s Art of Motoring exhibition is at the Iconic Images Gallery, 16 Waterloo Place, SW1Y 4AR, from Wednesday 28 to Saturday 31 October (timetable).

Getting there and parking

On a Sunday before 7am, the Tube is the issue. Hyde Park Corner and Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly line are the nearest stations to Serpentine Road, but check TfL for first trains before you plan a dawn arrival. If you drive, our Westminster parking zones and hours page explains the controlled hours on surrounding streets, and the pay-to-park prices page has the bay rates. For Pall Mall on the Saturday, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus are the nearest stations.

What is still to come

  • The 2026 spectator route guide, with times for each point on the route. Last year’s appeared on the club’s directions page. We will add the 2026 times when it is published.
  • The 2026 souvenir programme, which can be pre-ordered from the club.

Sources