Bicester Heritage

Bicester Heritage is home to the laid-back Sunday Scramble open day event and more. Their unique and beautiful site makes the perfect venue for these relaxed, informal motoring events, creating a time-warp atmosphere unlike any other location. Part of the Bicester Motion brand, Bicester Heritage transports attendees back in time along the tree-lined avenues of the Technical Site, and carefully restored 1920s and’30s buildings that make up this unique former RAF site. With plenty of action, the sound of rare historic cars and aircraft often fills the air, adding to the excitement of these motoring meetings.

2023 is the ten-year anniversary of Bicester Heritage, with plenty of events already planned to celebrate. Attendees can enjoy refreshments from on-site beverage producers Wriggly Monkey Brewery and Sky Wave Gin and experience the world of vintage aviation on the site’s active grass airfield, in addition to exploring the workshops and tanker sheds that are usually kept behind lock and key.

In addition to the Scramble events, Bicester Heritage is also the venue for other well-known events, such as RollHard x Bicester Heritage and Build It Live. With such a large amount of well-drained open space on hand and 50,000 ft2 of covered events space in one of its WW2 C Type hangars, Bicester Heritage is available for events, and as a film and photography location. They are delighted to be the chosen location for The Imitation Game, Darkest Hour and Warner Brothers’ Pennyworth.

Driving experiences for all can be enjoyed on site: under 17s can experience driving lessons with Young Driver; for older thrill-seekers single seater driving experiences plus two seater racing car passenger rides can be enjoyed with SWB Motorsport as well as military vehicles on their 4 x 4 area; classic cars and iconic movie cars can also be driven on track with Car Chase Heroes.

Bicester Heritage is now the centre of excellence for historic motoring within the UK. The unique location is the national centre for a £8bn per annum industry that employs over 34,000 skilled people. Founded in 2013, Bicester Heritage has gone from a standing start to a home for over 50 specialist businesses, and growing, with a collective turnover of over £50m, making it the largest player in the industry and set to grow exponentially with a global reach.

The unique ecosystem of businesses based at a beautiful 444 acre former WW2 RAF Bomber Training Station acts as ‘marina-like’ cluster, promoting skills and expertise, employment, qualified customer footfall, shared business incubation and aggregate growth. Collectively, Bicester Heritage is all about driving the future of the past.

The former RAF Bicester site, on which Bicester Heritage is now based, is of national historic importance. Neglected for the best part of 40 years, it was added to Historic England’s ‘At Risk Register’ in 2008 and designated the most ‘at risk’ of all Defence Estates in the UK.

Since Bicester Heritage’s tenure, the site is now held as a national exemplar of constructive conservation by Historic England. The time-warp base is truly unmatched in evocative character, with even the paint colours being correct to 1930s British Standards. An active airfield and test track complete its dynamic operation.

More information on upcoming events here