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London Lisbon

HERO-ERA

20th-30th May 2026


London Lisbon 2026
Overall Winners: Dick Baines/Harry Baines (Porsche 911)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA

Organiser: HERO-ERA

Date: 20th-30th May 2026

Clerk of the Course: James Phillips

Route: 3884 Miles (36 Regs & 9 Tests)

Countries: UK, France, Spain & Portugal

Starters: 46


The eighth edition of the London Lisbon was planned to run from the start at the Brooklands Circuit in Weybridge to Estoril, taking in the roads of south-eastern England, before traversing France, Spain and Portugal. Nine tests and thirty-five regularities were scheduled to be included in the competition.

Unfortunately, only days before the start, the French authorities withdrew permission to run any regularities on their roads. This was largely due to a new digital consultation process which made it easier for departments to raise objections. Although permission was gained from most communes, some objected and consent was withdrawn for all of the French route.

The original course was followed with the fourteen French regularities replaced with 'Routes' where marshal simply confirmed that their control had been visited; code boards were also added to assure that the correct course was followed. For the French authorities the event was treated as a Tour, and with under 50 cars, this didn't require a permit.

Putting these difficulties aside, forty-six crews lined up for the start at Brookland Museum on Wednesday morning. They only had a short run out to Test 1/1 which started on the circuit's famous banking. Three cars shared honours for the fastest time, these were David Bundy/Debbie Bundy (Triumph 2.5 Pi), Tom Woodcock/Rachel Woodcock (Datsun 240Z) and Peter Myles/Louise Myles (Porsche 911). The tests on the opening leg were scored on the usual class improvement system, where the fastest in a class received zero penalties, while the second added two seconds to their total and the third four, with a maximum of ten seconds.

The first regularity was a 13 kilometre section with two timing points; it started just south of Redhill Aerodrome and finished near Blindley Heath. It was a gentle introduction and four crews made both timing points exactly on time, among these were Myles/Myles who thus maintained their clean sheet.

The second test of the leg used the in field of Lingfield Park Racecourse where Myles/Myles were a second quicker than anyone else; they therefore arrived at the Lingfield Park coffee halt with zero penalties and shared the lead with Richard Bowser/James Bowser (Austin Healey 3000), who had been quickest in Class 3 on both tests.

Two further regularities completed the day's competition and they proved to be a character-building exercise for many crews, this was due to the amount of civilian traffic encountered. The event used the Joker System, but with a modification that there were two Jokers, one for Days One to Five and another for Days Seven to Eleven. This reduced a crew's largest lateness penalty to 15 seconds. However, the Joker wasn't enough to save many competitors as they encountered numerous delays.

Typical of those unfortunate enough to be delayed were Dave Maryon/Henry Carr (MG B Roadster) who met traffic just before all four timing points on Regularity 1/3. Browser/Browser also had problems and were over a minute late at the second TP on the section and dropped to fifth place.

In contrast, Dick Baines/Harry Baines (Porsche 911) had a clear run and were one of only two cars to arrive at the pre-Chunnel halt at Broome Park without having triggered their Joker. This meant that the 2022 London-Lisbon winners now held a lead of 26 seconds over the 2024 winners, Graham Platts/Neil Ripley (Austin Healey 100M). Dave Batchelor/Jackie Batchelor (Triumph TR4), in third, were the only other crew with under one minute of penalties.

London Lisbon 2026
Second Placed: Graham Platts/Neil Ripley (Austin Healey 100M)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA

Platts had a scare during the day as the clutch on the Austin Healey started to fail, fortunately he was carrying a spare part, left over after a clutch problem on the Classic Marathon, and the issue was fixed by the sweeps.

Two cars failed to make it to France; firstly, David Wilson/Stewart Rust (Fiat 2300S Coupe) had a non-competing vehicle hit them in the rear as they slowed to take a turn, the impact caused extensive damage. Secondly, the Ferrari 365GT4 of Stephan Wagner/Gianna Theofilidou suffered a failed clutch at the Channel Tunnel Passport Control. Both these crews rejoined a few days later in more modern machinery.

After an overnight halt at Le Torquet, and the first Route section, the main French element of the competition, two tests at Stadium Automobile Abbeville were undertaken. Myles/Myles, who had been in seventh place after the UK leg, were fastest on the first test, but had to give best, by one second, to Mike Thorne/Sarah Thorne (Porsche 2.7 RS), on Test 2/2. Platts/Ripley closed in on the leaders as they were fastest in Class One on both tests, while Baines/Baines, up against more powerful cars in Class Five, were only fifth and eighth quickest. The two top crews were now eight seconds apart.

Until lunch time on Day Five, when the route moved over the Pyrenes into Spain, there were only Route sections to tackle, although finding all the controls and code boards wasn't easy and many added a 30 second penalty to their total for missing at least one check. The top two places remained unchanged, with no penalties added, but Batchelor/Batchelor dropped to fifth after missing a code board on the final Route section.

After passing over the border there was one regularity at the end of Day Five, a challenging run uphill above the Yesa Reservoir. Platts/Ripley took the lead here, heading Baines/Baines by one second when the rally arrived at Pamplona, where Day Six was a non-transit day.

London Lisbon 2026
Third Placed: Dave Maryon/Henry Carr (MG B Roadster)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA

There were four regularities, plus a test, to contest on Day Seven, which took the route to Leon. After putting in the best performance over the regs, Baines/Baines put themselves back into the lead, although by only a single second, as Platts/Ripley were best in Class One on the test. Myles/Myles were fastest on the Navarre Circuit test and were now in third place overall.

Day Eight was a lengthy one, taking the route to the very north-western corner of Spain at Muxia. Again, there were four regularities and one test, with the final control of the day being 130 kilometres before the overnight halt at the Parador Hotel.

As on Day Seven, Baines/Baines were best on the regs, but lost out on the Los Terceros Circuit test, meaning that at the day end the two top crews were tied for first place. In the tight battle for third, Maryon/Carr took the position, as, despite being fastest on the test, Myles/Myles fell to sixth.

There wasn't a test on Day Nine, which took the route into Portugal, where three regs were tackled. This allowed Baines/Baines to pull out in front, but by only two seconds as the Vidago Palace Hotel was reached. Maryon/Carr had consolidated their third place, but were over a minute off the lead.

There were four regs on the penultimate day, with a total of 13 timing points; Baines/Baines dropped just four seconds over all of them and, despite losing out on the two tests, they arrived at the final control of the day with an advantage over Platts/Ripley of 24 seconds.

The two tests were at the Caramulo hill climb, unusually run down hill on this occasion. Myles/Myles were three seconds quicker than any other crew on the first, but Bundy/Bundy took fastest on the second run.

With just one day remaining it seemed that Baines/Baines had probably done enough to secure their second London Lisbon win, but there were three tricky regularities and a test to contest before they reached Estoril and the final control.

However, it wasn't the Porsche crew who slipped up, they added just four regularity seconds to their total and, despite losing six seconds on the Fatima test, came home to repeat their 2022 success on the Iberian event. Their final victory margin was over a minute as Platts/Ripley went wrong on the second reg, hitting the maximum one minute penalty at TP 11/2B, although they had a sufficient margin in hand to retain the runner up spot. Maryon/Carr completed the podium, giving the driver his best result in over twenty years of competing.

Unsurprisingly Harry Baines took the Clockwatchers Award for the best performance over the event's regularities; he accumulated 1m07s of penalties, 1m36s less than second best Henry Carr. The Test Pilot Award went to Peter Myles, who had been fastest on five of the nine tests.


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