Buy your Drivers’ Meeting tickets here
Various car clubs will take center stage at the forthcoming Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting on May 12 at Bicester Heritage, UK. Each club has picked a single star car from its stable to display at the event, to showcase the best of the club’s activities. And the eclectic range of machines lined up contain something for everyone.
The MX-5 Owners Club is bringing a special edition MX-5 that celebrated the marque’s 1991 Le Mans 24 Hour win, with an exact depiction of the winning 787B sportscar’s green and orange livery. The rotary-engined 787B faced down the might of TWR Jaguar, Sauber Mercedes-Benz and Porsche to become the only non-piston engine car to win the race. The Vintage Sports Car Club brings a machine touched by competition too—though of a very different sort. A 1928 Austin Seven Chummy will be on display, which in 2006 was acquired then rebuilt from a completely disassembled and forlorn state by Gillian Carr. Experienced racer Carr now competes with in trialing, one of the oldest motorsport forms there is, using it effectively as a T-car for when her usual Vauxhall 30/98 is broken, as well as “a really cool pub car”!
The BMW Car Club’s machine on display also has extensive competition under its belt. It’s a 1990 BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution that club member Richard Baxter bought in 1999, having been bitten by the bug of track day driving. Helped by the club’s old hands, Baxter honed the car and himself and reckons that over the best part of the last decade he’s completed in it 250 laps of the Nürburgring Nordschliefe! The MG Car Club meanwhile brings an MGB which took part in the first London-Sydney Marathon in 1968, and which was recently rediscovered by a rubbish removal contractor after nearly half a century of obscurity.
Of course, the clubs’ star cars aren’t all about competition, and the inimitable allure of classic cars for everyday driving enjoyment is also represented. The Mercedes-Benz club will display an elegant red 230SL Pagoda. It was bought by Canadian Lisa Draper at a 2013 auction – she hadn’t previously been much of a car enthusiast but this machine reminded her of her second date with now-husband Ian, on which he had borrowed a friend’s 230SL for a trip to New Forest. They have now been married for eight years, in which time they’ve enjoyed the Pagoda extensively.
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) will have a 400bhp 1968 Ford Mustang GT, which Dr Roger King, who currently is a year into a volunteer role at the club, built up from a rusting hulk in 2004. Since, he and his wife have done almost 40,000 miles in it, most of them touring mainland Europe. Porsche Club Great Britain was founded off the back of the iconic 356 and its derivatives, and appropriately it brings a 1960 Heron Grey 356 to Bicester, known as the ‘Robin Hood Car’. Classic Car Club London meanwhile will have a svelte 1967 Volvo P1800S, encompassing the club’s mission to help members enjoy classic cars in genteel explorations of picturesque countryside.
The club display will be one of the star attractions at the Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting at the renowned Bicester Heritage, in Oxfordshire, UK, on Sunday May 12. For more about the show see this story.
To apply to have your vehicle included in the show, please visit this link: application form to show your car
General attendance tickets are available for purchase here for £12.50, and remaining tickets will be sold at the gate for £15.00. Petrolicious Members and kids under 16 get in free.
Images courtesy of Next Step Heritage
