This weekend saw the annual London to Brighton smart car run. The event, organised by thesmartclub with funding by DaimlerChrysler UK, attended by members of thesmartclub and funkysmart attracted smartcars from all over the UK and Ireland, with a couple joining us from around Europe.

The start of this years event took place just outside of London to allow people easier access to the start venue, and also to avoid problems with lost smarties as well as congestion that happened during last years run.

Over 800 smart cars left the start at Kempston Race course, starting in 'groups' from 10am Saturday morning and over 1300 turned up at the Finish venue on Brightons sea-front shortly after. During the journey down smarts were treated to some nice views of the countryside, and good weather prevailed.

Throughout the day (certainly up till we left at 4pm) smarts were still arriving in Brighton, possibly delayed somewhat by an accident on the M25. Another smart was seen to be belching smoke (an oil surge!) on the motorway with another casualty including someone locking their keys in the boot.

Despite there being some confusion about exactly who would be trading, and also people being directed away from the finish line, the event appears to have been major success.

Catering facilities were available (and made heavy use of by hungry smarties) at the start and finish venue and many people took the time to explore the seafront after arriving.

We couldn't help but notice the lack of media coverage of the event despite assurance that it was being handled. To our knowledge there has been no mention on any media outlets so far (apart from one sole cameraman who we assume was PR for DCUK).

Update 29-09-03

Pictures from the event are being posted on the smartclub and funkysmart messageboards click the links below to see:
Funkysmart messageoard
thesmartclub photos messageboard


Our Pictures!



Movies!
You may need to download Quicktime to play these movies.

The Brabus roadster doing some skids.
View of the start chock-full of smarts.
Arriving at Brighton
The nice marshall who turned cars away from blackrock carpark
Queue at the finish
Toy Story!
*Very* nice interior, let down by the overdriven bass.
Higher resolution / source media available upon request