An evocative start and emotional farewell

Where usually stands a unique Bentley and a unique Ferguson single seater is bare. And the word unique is not used lightly: there is nothing even close to either car anywhere else in the world and Classic Performance Engineering has been entrusted with them for years. 

Beside them is usually a toolroom Jaguar D-type and an ex-works Lotus sports racer. Facing them could be the prototype Gordon Keeble, a few Jags and likely a Datsun 240Z rally project.

Now, only the crispest of shadows casts down across the painted floor from a roof light, as preparations for the farewell party begin.

After 10 years and one long and happy lease at Bicester Motion, CPE is preparing to close the freshly repainted doors to the Main Stores for one last time as it moves to the edge of Silverstone. 

“I'm quite emotional about it, to be honest,” company founder Martin Greaves admits, with just a Jaguar C-type left in view. “It’s been a huge part of our lives.”

CPE were one of the first long-term residents of Bicester Motion, then more commonly known as Bicester Heritage, and the team moved from Northamptonshire to the former RAF Bicester in 2015. 

“It was my then brother-in-law, Rob Glover, who was one of the first people on site here. I had come to the opening of Historit on an invitation from Rob, and [CEO] Dan Geoghegan walked me around the site. It was five o'clock on a November evening, just getting dark, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I just thought, ‘This place is so cool. It's brilliant.’ 

“Dan was obviously enthusiastic about it and our company was a good fit, and has been for what they wanted at the site. Then started a long process of agonising over costs.”

The bucket of keys to these 444 acres had been in Dan’s hands for less than two years, and Martin had his pick of them. But there were certain boxes the space needed to tick for the growing race team and restorers.

“I was really keen on the building that Kingsbury and Vintage Rads are in now, but this one really talked to us mainly, and it sounds ridiculous, because of the parking space out the back. We needed to be able to have trucks, trailers and have a sort of dedicated area. This was about the only workshop space that worked inside and outside.”

Lingering graffiti recalled the decades of dereliction that had preceded the arrival of Bicester Motion, but the Grade II Listed building was freshly preserved and ready for its new lease of life.

“When we moved in it was completely clear. The floors weren’t painted, there was no mezzanine: it was just the bare shell of the building. We had to decide where the wall went – it was empty through to where Blue Diamond is now – and it was a case of cost versus space. 

“Ten years ago at a Scramble we put a couple of cars in and put some easels up with some pictures of customer cars just to get a feel for what's coming to this workshop. The business grew to fill the space very quickly, and that was definitely on the back of moving here.”

Martin had formed CPE just shy of 20 years earlier, in 1997, building his reputation in what was a blossoming industry of old cars going racing and caring for an astonishing array of machinery.

“We were in 4000 square feet, which is about half this space,” he says. “Coming to Bicester Heritage was the marketing plan: we're advertising we're here, physically by being in the building, and the halo effect of being attached to Bicester Heritage and everything else that was going on. That, broadly, has worked and having the business here has been brilliant. We look after some really, really spectacular cars. And that's one of the things that drives me. I've had some experiences through running a business like this that money can't buy and you can't repeat.

“It's also been challenging; business is, not just in historic motorsport but across the board. My health hadn't been brilliant for some of it, there was COVID, obviously, and just so many different things have happened while we've been here but I’m really, really proud of what we've done. We’ve looked after customers and given employment to a number of people. There's been some brilliant times.”

His affinity and affection for the site remains unshakable. “We use a lot of the specialists on site, so the community works, and we've got some good friends here. But one of the real pleasures for me was almost when the site was empty. You would come back from a race meeting late at night, driving through those main gates as soon as they show the shut behind you, you're in a safe space. It's familiar. You've got the street lighting on, the place is just brilliant. 

“I will always love this site. It felt like home.”