Motoring at the Club
The Royal Automobile Club is Britain’s longest standing and historically most influential motoring organisation. Founded in1897 – when ‘horseless carriages’ were regarded with scepticism and suspicion – to promote automobilism, the Club is proud of its contribution to motoring and motor sport.
Today the focus has shifted towards the membership with a flourishing range of member activities now being offered, including automotive factory tours, visits to Formula 1 factories and participation in world-class concours events as well as breakfast drive-ins and motoring film nights at Woodcote Park.
The extensive choice of member events during the year includes the Annual Motoring Dinner, Le Mans Dinner and London Motor Week Dinner, with guests including some of the highest profile leaders from the automotive and motorsport industries. The Club also recognises landmark achievements and anniversaries from the motoring world with bespoke celebrations.
The Club’s motoring year reaches a crescendo at the end of October and beginning of November as London Motor Week takes centre stage. It is a diverse week-long series of events and functions, including lectures, forums, dinners and awards for members, guests and the wider motoring community, reflecting the Club’s broad passion for motoring. Highlights of the week are the Regent Street Motor Show and the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
An eclectic range of vehicles adorns the rotunda at the Pall Mall clubhouse throughout the year, providing a special welcome for members and their guests as they arrive.
At Woodcote Park, the Old Barn has undergone award-winning restoration and has been transformed into the fabulous Motor House, which now houses the Club’s heritage fleet and an accompanying modern workshop to service it. A 1950s-style garage display has been created as a backdrop to one of Sir Stirling Moss’s cars while exhibits and displays tracking the motoring history of the Club are on view throughout the building.
Outside of member activities, the Club continues to develop and support automobilism through representation on the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the RAC Foundation. The Club also awards a series of prestigious historic trophies and medals celebrating motoring achievements, including the Segrave Trophy, the Tourist Trophy, the Simms Medal, the Dewar Trophy, the Torrens Trophy and the Historic Awards.
