Skoda at London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
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Skoda
5th November, 2010
An example of the first Skoda model ever produced, the
Voiturette A, is in the UK for the very first time this week-end to take part in the world famous
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR).
The origins of what was to become Škoda Auto began in 1894, when Václav Laurin (a mechanic) and
Václav Klement (a bookseller in Mladá Boleslav) established a bicycle repair shop. By 1899 they were
manufacturing bicycles and in 1905 they produced their first automobile, the Laurin & Klement
Voiturette A (Laurin & Klement being the original name of the Skoda brand pre-1925), in the city of
Mladá Boleslav – where the Škoda factory remains today. Around one hundred Voiturette A models were
produced between 1905 and 1907.
The Voiturette A model which will run on this weekend’s LBVCR was built in 1906. It took five years
to restore and is housed in the Škoda Auto Museum, situated within the grounds of the main factory in
Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic.
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The rear-wheel drive Voiturette A (which is French for ‘little car’) is powered by a four-stroke,
two-cylinder SV engine, which produces 7 bhp and has a top speed of 25 mph. There is no battery, only
a low voltage magneto, and there are no spark plugs, but an originally used ‘breaker’.
The Voiturette A will be on view to the public in Regent Street, London on Saturday (6th November)
during the LBVCR International Concours event (11:00-15:00). The start of the 77th running of the
LBVCR, the world's longest running motoring event, takes place on Sunday (7th November) in Hyde Park
(07:00-08:30). From there, over 500 cars will make the 60 mile journey to the finish on Madeira Drive
on Brighton’s seafront (10:00-16:40).
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