Rainy Motorsport Meet with WeAreScramblers at Bicester Heritage.
While the clocks may have sprung forward, waking up to the sound of rain battering the windows felt very wintery and made even worse by loosing an hours sleep but the (seemingly) early start was definitely going to be worth it.
The March We Are Scramblers assembly theme was motorsport to celebrate the 2023 motorsport season kicking off in the UK. The theme for attendees was any competition connected car, be that prepared and competition ready race and rally cars, or road going homologation specials.
First stop on arrival was of course Harolds van for a sausage bap and a cup of tea to warm up with while watching people arrive and park up scattered all round Bicester Heritage.
The weather had now cleared meaning the ground was wet but no rain falling making it the perfect time to capture some reflection shots and giving the whole event a moody and foreboding vibe.
The turn out was great, from GR Yaris’ to MK2 escort Rally cars, classic circuit cars and many more.
The feature car of the day was this 2003 Impreza, the last Subaru driven by Tommi Makinen in the WRC. Over his career he won four consecutive WRC drivers' championships from 1996 to 1999, all driving for the Subaru World Rally Team. Certainly if you remember rallying and rally games from the early 2000’s this style of Subaru is iconic for dominating the WRC (and later on Tesco car parks with Gary’s)
Every corner as you weave through the Bicester Heritage site had a surprise set around it. The Porsche 964 is a personal favourite There’s something about the proportions, it’s relatively small compared to the 993, 996 etc. which followed but the 964 has a very sleek and simplistic style to it.
Having recently seen the latest generation of Carrera Cup annihilating Brands Hatch GP circuit it was amazing to see a classic up close, and even better to see it’s still used in anger with scrutineering stickers lining the roll cage.
Fast estate cars are always cool, but no estate will ever be as memorable as the Volvo 850R Touring Car produced by TWR to compete in the BTCC during the mid 90’s.
The original cars had some mods such as engine heads skimmed at an angle which were, lets call them flexings of the BTCC rule book.
The 850R Touring Car proved to be a successful racer, winning the BTCC championship in 1995 with driver Rickard Rydell.
This recreation showed some serious attention to detail.
Back to another rally car with a tribute to the late Richard Burns and the 206 WRC which Richard piloted to win the drivers' championship in 2001 while driving the car for the Peugeot World Rally Team.
Back in the early 2000’s the WRC rules meant the 206 ran a turbo charged 2 litre four cylinder engine, however unlike the road car it was mounted longitudinally with a six speed sequential box hanging off the back of it.
Possibly the most memorable feature was the wide body work and enormous rear wing all giving the 206 the best aerodynamics possible.
As always the site at Bicester gives some amazing backdrops, as this E46 M3 just parked up out the way proves, epic car in a dystopian setting.
Thank you to Scrambler for organising an amazing morning as always, and to all the attendees for not getting put off by the wet and windy weather.
Check out more photos below. Images and words by Mitcham Media
