To celebrate London Motor Week 2015 the Royal Automobile Club are hosting a series of motoring lectures by some of the most prominent motoring historians in the industry.

London Motor Week motoring lectures 2015 – What’s on?

Lecture – Behind the badge: Symbolism & Confusion – Giles Chapman

Emblems, badges, logos – every car has one, and almost every manufacturer has tried to use these graphic devices to relay important facets about their products. To play it safe, the default choices have frequently used coats of arms or the imagery of wings, but even these have often proved controversial. The event will highlight a dozen historic car badges to demonstrate the wide spectrum of symbolism car badges convey, and untangle some very convoluted back stories.

This lecture is presented by Giles Chapman, an award winning writer and commentator on the history and culture of the motor industry. A former editor of Classic & Sports Car magazine, his career has gone from strength to strength not only as an editor and journalist but also as a well-respected writer of over 40 books including ‘My Dad Had One of Those’, which has proved to be one of the best-selling car books of all time.

Lecture – Motoring to Define a Nation: Motorisierung and the Third Reich – Anders Clausager

Motorisierung was the programme developed by the Nazi regime of the German Third Reich between 1933 and 1939. This talk explores the reasons for adopting the policy, the individual elements of the programme, and its effect on the German nation before and after its inception. Combining political, social and technical history, this fascinating talk explores the manufacturing, financial and engineering legacy generated by the programme.

Guest speaker Anders Ditlev Clausager worked briefly as a designer for VW and British Leyland before becoming an archivist for both the British Motor Trust and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. Now retired, he has a number of published books to his credit mainly featuring his love of British cars such as Austin, Austin-Healey, Jaguar and much more.

Lecture:  An Extreme Adventure: The Peking to Paris Rally, 1907 and Beyond – Daniel Ward

The Peking to Paris Rally remains one of motor sports most extreme races for vintage and classic vehicles. Covering a variety of terrains including the Mongolian desert, Daniel Ward’s witty talk explores the history of the event and its participants through to his own experiences as a competitor driving his 5.3 litre, 1908 Talbot Roi-des-Belges.

Lecture:  Back to the Future: Rolls Royce Technologies shaping Transport

Sir Ralph Robbins is former Chairman of Rolls-Royce and has had a varied career which included working on the development of civil aero engines and boldly going (in industry), where other men feared to tread by investing heavily in aero engine technology through the 1990s when others were running in the other direction! His lecture will give a unique insight into the technologies that shaped aviation and motoring, propelling society towards a new age.

Sir Ralph is a Freeman of the City of London in recognition of his achievements.

Tickets and Admission

All of the London Motoring Week lectures 2015 take place at the Pall Mall clubhouse on Tuesday 27th October, 2015.

The lectures cost just £15 per ticket and are open to all motoring enthusiasts to attend.  The price includes all lectures, a light buffet lunch and a historical tour of the club.

Please note that pre-booking is essential please e-mail

Itinerary for the day:

11.00am – Coffee &registration
11.15am – Chairman’s welcome address and introduction to the Club
11.30am – 12.15pm – The relationship between motoring and aviation
12.15pm – 1.00pm – Badges, Emblems and logos: History, design and development
1.00pm – 2.00pm – Lunch
2.00pm – 2.30pm – Tour of the Club incorporating a brief history.
2.30pm – 3.15pm – Motoring to Define a Nation: German Motoring Policy and the Third Reich
3.15pm – 3.45pm – An extreme adventure: Peking to Paris Rally, 1907 and beyond