The Pioneer Run for Veteran Motorcycles - Sunday 3rd October 2021

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Press release

After a year's gap, the 81st Pioneer Run® organised by The Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club is back! The Club is Britain’s premier organisation catering for veteran, vintage and pre-war motorcycles. Seasoned followers of this annual event and first time spectators always find something to amaze and delight. Travelling from Epsom to Brighton City Airport through the beautiful countryside of Surrey and Sussex, all motorcycles (which must have been manufactured prior to 1915) will find the route  suitably challenging. From the dawn of powered transport with ‘bikes having single speed transmissions, no clutch, but with pedals and fairly primitive means of retardation, to the more sophisticated machines, spectators can literally watch the development of powered two-wheeled transport as these venerable motorcycles pass by. No pampered museum pieces, their owners take great pride in not only completing this event but also others arranged by the SM-CC throughout the year.

Entrants attend not only from the United Kingdom, but also from Europe and beyond. Generally speaking, the earlier their start number, the older the machine, usually in the form of something like a late Victorian French De Dion tricycle of the 1890s. Deceptively quick, these devices were amongst the first vehicles to be competitively raced, usually by young men who had been bitten by the cycling craze and who had developed a lust for speed!

There are a plethora of different 'bikes represented, few of which are familiar today, but all played their part in establishing the motorcycle as a legitimate form of transport…and what names they are…Bat, Arno, Rex, Premier, Sun, Bradbury, Wall Autowheel, FN, Motosacoche, Alldays and Onions and a host more. You’ll also see some more familiar ones like Triumph, Douglas, Sunbeam, Peugeot and Rudge. There are over 200 machines entererd, so spotting some of these rarities is a good game to play. Be sure to catch the (and here you need to be careful not to upset the owners!) ‘oddities’ like the Phanomobile with its fan-cooled engine driving the front of its three wheels, or the Wall Auto Wheels, literally small engines powering one small wheel with the whole contraption attached to a convenient period bicycle. Or how about a forecar?, three wheels again, this time with the passenger sitting up front, often in a wicker seat facing everything the high road and the elements can throw against them! There are engines of every configuration too, single cylinder, twins, fours, two strokes and four strokes, side valve and ohv, chain drive, belt drive, shaft drive – every manufacturer had their own idea of what constituted a proper ‘riders machine’.  For those early 'bikes with no clutch, life is difficult with riders either pushing the machine and performing a ‘run and jump’ start or pedalling and ‘dropping’ the valve lifter to bring the machine into life.  For those with the luxury of a clutch and sometimes even gears, there are still problems to be overcome – adjustments are often seen being carried out at the roadside, occasionally concerning magnetos but often to do with plugs that have oiled up. Some owners even resort to dismantling an engine in order to overcome a mechanical problem! It is to the credit of these many entrants that the majority, by hook or by crook, finally arrive at the finish.

If you’re at the start in Epsom, the finish at Brighton City Airport, or somewhere along the route we hope you enjoy your day. And if you have any make of pre-war motorcycle, and would like to experience, the camaraderie and the fun shared by a group of like-minded enthusiasts, why not join The Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club!

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