Bosch UK becomes official Technical Partner to the 2023 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

27th September 2023, London, UK – One of the oldest and most significant partnerships in motoring history is being recharged and celebrated on this year’s RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run which, as tradition dictates, takes place on the first Sunday in November – 5 November in 2023.

It was in 1898 that automotive pioneer Frederick R. Simms contacted Robert Bosch, a fellow young entrepreneur, with the plan of applying the high-tech Bosch magneto to an automobile. The innovative Simms-Bosch ignition magneto that resulted quickly became a game-changing breakthrough, enabling engine designers finally to precisely time the ignition of fuel and thus permitting emergent motorised vehicles to become everyday transport.

The revolutionary new product paved the way for Bosch to become one of the world’s premier engineering and technology companies.

Simms, too, became a major force in the early days of motoring. As well as manufacturing his own vehicles, he founded both the Automobile Club of Great Britain – later to become the Royal Automobile Club – and the influential Society of Motoring Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Now, in 2023, Bosch UK and the Royal Automobile Club are teaming up to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the ground-breaking Simms-Bosch magneto.

Venerating the original collaboration, Bosch has become the official Technical Partner to the 2023 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run – the world’s longest running motoring event reserved for pre-1905 ‘horseless’ vehicles, many fitted with trailblazing Simms-Bosch magnetos.

Vonjy Rajakoba, Managing Director of Bosch UK, said: “It was the magneto ignition system that launched Robert Bosch’s engineering company on its way to becoming the world-leading organisation it is today from its humble origins in Stuttgart.”

“Together with Simms, Robert Bosch opened his first overseas company in Store Street, London in 1898. Since then, Bosch has pioneered many motoring technologies including anti-lock brakes and airbags, and today we’re at the forefront of the advanced software and semiconductor technology that makes driving as safe as it has ever been and will move us towards increasingly automated driving. There’s no better way to celebrate this history than by partnering the Royal Automobile Club and its legendary RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 2023.”

Back in 1896, Simms had been one of the intrepid participants who took part in the original Emancipation Run, driving 60-miles from London to Brighton to acclaim the moment an Act of Parliament raised speed limits from 4mph to 14mph thus giving motorised vehicles the freedom of the road. Today’s annual Veteran Car Run, organised by the Royal Automobile Club, commemorates that first run from the capital city to the Sussex seaside resort.

Ben Cussons, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: “The historic partnership between Robert Bosch and Frederick Simms was one of the most important in the early days of motorised transport, so we are truly honoured to be rekindling and applauding the landmark affiliation 125 years later. Through Simms, both the Club and Bosch have entwined birth-rights making this renewed collaboration all the more significant and special.”

Further fuelling the 125th anniversary celebrations, Bosch is also enthusiastically supporting a number of the Royal Automobile Club’s other motoring focused activities in 2023 including London Motor Week (30 October – 4 November) which features a display and reception in the Houses of Parliament on 31 October.

Igniting the partnership earlier in the summer, a special cavalcade of classic cars – all equipped with original Bosch components – travelled from the Royal Automobile Club’s prestigious clubhouse on Pall Mall to a site on Tottenham Court Road where a special blue plaque was unveiled marking the building which the embryonic Bosch Magneto Company built in 1913.

Supporting the evocative cavalcade, Club’s rotunda housed the chain-driven 1900 Simms from its own Heritage Fleet alongside a diminutive Peugeot Type BP1 Bébé, the Ettore Bugatti designed icon dating back to 1913 which came with ingenious Bosch ignition. The two-car showcase was supported by several information boards highlighting the significant historical ties between the Club and Bosch.

Full details of the 2023 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run on Sunday, 5 November are available at the event website at www.veterancarrun.com.

For more information about Bosch UK’s 125th anniversary, visit www.bosch.co.uk/125-years-of-bosch-uk/

About Bosch

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 420,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2022). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 88.4 billion euros in 2022. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 128 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 85,000 associates in research and development, of which nearly 44,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861–1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPress