Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble January 2023
First show of the year and it was a belter. A surprisingly mild January day at the airfield site of Bicester Heritage gave. the perfect sets up for the day. Throughout the day the whole event was buzzing and bustling with excited and passionate people.
Our day started a little late arriving half an hour after gates opened but that did mean we had the privilege to walk through the forward parking surrounded by everything from Cayman GT4’s to 205 GTis and prewar specials.
After a quick wander about to get some bearings it was time for a breakfast roll and a coffee watching more cars arriving and assembling.
Walking round, the scene outside Morgans unit was a stand out. The burgundy and cream combo’ed car taking pride of place with the vibrant yellow sat behind over shadowed by the old water tower was phenomenal.
The breadth of cars was phenomenal, modern and classic, coupes through to estates, two wheel drive and four. The 1 of 125 ABT Audi RS6R was a stealth machine, the enormous and agressive styling was a stand out but among good estate company with a banana yellow Volvo 850 T5-R sat behind. The modern classics included a gorgeous DB9 as seen here, while the Vanquish has aged badly the DB9 still looks impressive and commands a presence.
It was a somber moment seeing the Tuthill Safari 911 used by Ken Block out in Kenya, Africa in 2022 but formed a good memorial to Ken following his passing earlier in the week. Ken pioneered the growth of car culture worldwide, especially in the rally world growing it in popularity.
Our generation grew up with the Gymkhana series, playing Dirt Rally and watching Hoonigan all of which have provided inspiration and passion in building and driving epic cars. Seeing people walk past and pause you could feel the admiration and respect being paid.
You never quite know what you’re going to see at a Sunday Scramble which keeps you on your toes. When looking through the door at Classic Performance we spotted this Ferrari racer being fettled over the off season. Walking on down the avenue in the centre you’re greeted by a Carrera GT which are seldom seen on the road so you can imagine the surprise seeing a second parked up just 100 yards away in the car park
All in the detail.
The super car parking was an opportunity to get up close to cars normally only seen in magazines or the streets of London. There’s something very satisfying about seeing cars like Ferrari GT4 Lusso’s and Porsche GT3’s absolutely plastered in road grime from being used all year round.
The stand outs were the F1 edition Aston Martin Vantage in the gorgeous deep green, a stealth green McLaren 720S with the bronze like wheels and bright orange callipers with the high exit exhaust akin to the Porsche 918, and the gated manual box in the Ferrari 360.
Polestar now have a centre on site at Bicester Heritage for showing off their products to potential customers, and sat in front of the Polestar Two as this Polestar One. The One is a hybrid coupe with a carbon chassis and over 600 horsepower. Only 1500 are being produced globally with just 25 coming to the UK.
You may recognise the One as the road going version of the hero car in Need for Speed Heat. The car does a very good job at making hybrid and electric cars look exciting with the sleek design. Details such as the high voltage cables being on display in the boot are a cool touch you don’t normally see in EVs.
Overall the Scramble was an excellent event to kick off the year, bringing everyone in the car community together. It’s great to see the colder and more dreary winter weather not putting anyone off coming in their prized cars, and having the bold colours of some cars there certainly brightened things up. Thank you to Bicester Heritage and We Are Scramblers for organising an exceptional event as always, certainly got the brain juices flowing with inspiration for the year ahead.
Check out some more snaps from the Sunday Scramble below. More coverage to follow on another blog post soon.
