Joe Williams
A weekend of Porsche! After what feels like a lifetime we were back out in the cars and enjoying some car shows again. After a false start last year, Bicester Scramble was back on, and having not been before I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. Not being one to miss an opportunity, we turned it into a two-day outing with an overnight stop at Mollies.
Cutting the working week short at lunchtime on the Friday, which felt very indulgent, we set the compass north and went in search of a good lunch spot on route. Taking the scenic route via all the twisty B roads, we ended up at a lovely little country pub with an extensive range on draught. Disappointingly the kitchen had already closed so it became a nonalcoholic liquid lunch plus crisps and nuts!
Onward to Mollies, if you haven’t been before it’s a great little establishment with a loose American diner/motel theme. With a couple more joining us, we settled in to a round of man burgers and a cheeky pint or two before hitting the hay in preparation for the morning adventure.
We were six strong for Scramble the next day (SC, 993, 964, 996, 991 and a token 959). As we pulled into the first entrance a marshal tried to direct us into the general (boring) car parking field. As always, asking for forgiveness rather than permission we sped past in a bloom of dust towards the pre-90 field. The next member of the fun police sporting his all important hi-vis jacket came bounding over, having clocked that we weren’t all in pre-1990 vehicles!
After being moved on again we were waved into the centre of the main arena. This looked like a great spot to park so we pulled up, locked our cars and made a swift getaway for the concours before anyone could ask us to move them!
The quality and, more interestingly, the variety of cars was outstanding. The choice of Porsche alone included every variation including a cheeky reimagined number from Singer. The pre-’90 parking field was by far the most interesting. Italian, French, German, British and American – there must have been 2,000 cars with everything you can think of.
Having spoken to lots of people there, the general feeling was that it was a bit flat compared to previous events, but as a first timer there was a great buzz and the novelty of being back to a bit of normality made up for anything else. I’m certainly looking forward to the next one.
Then just to stretch out our couple of days of freedom, we went the long way home via the pub with the closed kitchen to see what we missed out on. The food was good and the beer cold, and made for a great way to end the day.
After a late start on the Sunday I loaded up the family into the 964 and shot up to Simply Porsche at Beaulieu. It was a great turn-out, although always a sea of grey 996 and 997s; I think we need to up the air-cooled game and even the mix. All in all though, it was another great day out.
Talking of events… the podcast is going strong and we’ve finalised our little Road to Redline get together. The Red Carpet is happening at Carnatter in Northampton on 3 July, all are welcome but you do need to grab a free ticket on Eventbrite. We look forward to seeing you there!