The Victory Day Auto-rally is one of the four directions of the My Regiment UK platform — organised by RuCentre and held annually on or near 9 May. Columns of vehicles depart from cities across England and converge on a shared meeting point for a festival of memory.
This guide collects what is currently known about the rally from the direction page. Specific dates, registration steps, and column-by-column logistics live on RuCentre''s own site and are updated each year.
What the day looks like
Vehicles assemble in their home cities, decorated with portraits, flags, and the symbols families choose. Each column has its own name and team, but all converge on a common end point. More than a thousand people gather annually — families with children, friends, and relatives travelling together.
Cities the columns depart from
Confirmed departure points (subject to year-by-year change):
- London
- Manchester
- Birmingham
- Liverpool
- Sheffield
- Leeds
- Nottingham
- Cardiff
- Southampton
- and other regional cities
The festival at the finish
The day ends with a community festival: a concert of wartime songs, a field kitchen serving traditional dishes, a children''s programme, a themed historical exhibition, and an evening gathering around a bonfire. Every element is built by volunteers and partner organisations — this is a community-funded, community-organised initiative.
How families take part
Families join the column nearest to them, drive together to the meeting point, and stay for the festival. Bringing children is encouraged — the auto-rally is explicitly a family event, and many of its strongest moments come from three generations travelling and remembering together.
Where to find this year''s details
Specific dates, this year''s route, registration, and column coordinators are published on RuCentre''s own site: rucentre.org. The platform''s Auto-rally direction page carries the broader context, the names of the coordinators, and the connection to the Council of My Regiment UK.
Who runs the direction
Vadim Aleksin and Anton Naydenov lead the Auto-rally project — convoy coordination, regional liaison, day-of operations. Elena Sergeeva coordinates columns and the broader pipeline of regional leaders and city coordinators. All three are members of the Council of My Regiment UK; the direction is one of the platform''s four pillars of remembrance.