Event: Sunbeam MCC Pioneer Run

Tattenham Corner (Epsom Downs Race Course) to Madeira Drive, Brighton.
Bikes need to be over 100 yrs old to enter officially, but it's a great event to unofficially ride alongside.

Pioneer Run

Introduction

The Club has organised the Pioneer Run since 1930, this immediately established itself as the premier event for pre-1915 veteran machines. However the start has been moved from the 1930 venue at Croydon Aerodrome, firstly to the railway yard at Tattenham Corner, Epsom, then to Weybridge for 1936 and finally back to Tattenham Corner.

Just for once in 1954 it was also started from Westminster, however the finish has usually been on Madeira Drive, Brighton, but one-off finishes were Peacehaven and Paris!

Registration

To ensure that all machines taking part in the Pioneer Run are genuine veterans, a register of all such machines was started in 1938, and only those machines on the register became eligible to enter the event. A dating Committee was formed to check authenticity of machines going on the register. The Pioneer Register quickly became a major information source for pre-1915 motorcycles.

In order to obtain a Pioneer Certificate, an application form with photographs of the machine and the appropriate fee needs to be submitted to the Registrar. The Dating Committee then meets and reviews the application and a decision is made as to whether the machine is authentic and therefore eligible for the issue of a certificate. It must be noted that it is up to the applicant to provide any relevant information with their application to substantiate the machines authenticity.

The Pioneer Certificate Application Form can be downloaded from here.

The Registrar can deal with the retention of original number plates with the DVLA for veterans only.
Run Information

Starting now from the race course on Epsom Downs, the route takes riders through Surrey and into Sussex with the finish on Madeira Drive at Brighton. The Pioneer Run continues to be the world’s largest gathering of veteran (pre-1915) machines with annually, well over 370 entries going from Epsom to Brighton.

Machines are entered in one of three classes, these being:

Class A - machines built before 1905
Class B - machines built between 1905 and 1909
Class C - for those between 1910 and 1914.
Over the years, there have been a number of famous entrants including Prince Michael of Kent, John Surtees, Geoff Duke, Graham and Murray Walker, Jon Pertwee, Dave Bickers and Sammy Miller.

Visit the club calendar to see the latest dates and contact information.

Web: http://www.sunbeam-mcc.co.uk/runs-and-events/pioneer-run/

Submitted by: SprintSTeve