There might be 20-odd Local Heroes on the main display at the Scramble, but in reality there are an additional 50 being celebrated.
They are the specialists that spend every day at Bicester Heritage and make it what it is.
As you enter the Main Gate on any given weekday you’ll be greeted by a variety of vintage British cars, not just Rileys, queued up to go under the eyes of Blue Diamond Riley Services.
Next door will be a beautifully complex nest being created by Ryan Edwards at his Exhaust Fabrication Ltd (REEF). Across the road, Olliminium will be working his own magic on something we’re usually not allowed to know about.
A hive of activity will be taking place one shop along from REEF as the Heritage Skills Academy trains the next generation of engineers – often under a car from the Wriggly Monkey Brewery. A fine fleet carries the logo of the beer maker.
In the MT Yard will usually be a glut of wonderful Porsches being eyed by prospective buyers at Sports Purpose, plus exotica new and old being cleaned and protected by Auto Wax Works.
Now there will also be some pedal cars on view, too.
Continuing up the Main Drive, Heritage Engineering crafts bespoke parts big and small for anything from prewar racers to industrial projects, and similarly varied is the work of the Vintage Car Radiator Company across the yard past the Heroics truck. When they’re not forming remarkable radiators for cars and planes, they’re prepping a gaggle of Ford Escorts for rallying.
Around the back, at sunkissed Kingsbury Racing, Ewen Getley does likewise for the world’s finest Cricklewood era Bentleys, including on behalf of the factory itself.
Guy Lachlan’s Motor Spirit, fittingly in The Lubricant Store opposite, keeps classic and race cars topped up and running smoothly with its specialist oils and fuels, while Harry Fraser Upholstery repairs and recreates interiors, hoods and anything else with astonishing results.
Historit makes good use of the ‘other’ hangar on site by storing in it car collections and bikes and a surprising array of other things, and distiller Sky Wave Gin collects awards for its drinks on a seemingly weekly basis.
Heading past the Tanker Sheds and towards the track could well be something special and perhaps unique from Classic Performance Engineering. The road and race car preparers and restorers are trusted with storied cars including the Ferguson P99, Sir Stirling Moss’ favourite race car.
Just as likely to be passing is a Morgan being driven by an instructor or potential owner, or perhaps something that is on offer from the Blast House and Pendine. Few car showrooms can match it – in stock and in location.
Then again it could be top Austin Seven racer and purveyor of British machinery Mark Elder. Two of his stock from The Motor Shed, a Morris Oxford and Morris Cowley, are representing the area on the lawn, too.
So too is his near neighbour HERO-ERA, who has provided the locally made Mini. Usually it is found on its events across the world.
HERO-ERA is one of a number of specialists that have moved into the Command Works in recent years, counting Motorsport UK as immediate neighbours. Hagerty is moving in – and will instead be found by Main Gate at the Scramble while The Clubhouse fitted out – and The Little Car Company’s success means it is now the largest resident in the Command Works. Bigger even than Swedish manufacturer Polestar.
Close by to both is a company that could be the most literal heroes on site: Physics X. Born out of motorsport success, its innovation is saving lives and helping the planet – all the while sharing the office with two barnstorming cars.
Hi-Speed is similarly helping to clean up, thanks to its work pushing the efficiency of electric motors, and Zero Petroleum is working on fossil-free fuel.
That is a problem neither Electrogenic nor Zapp Scooters have to worry about for their respective electric vehicles.
The Road Rat makes a magazine like no other, Rh45 insures the world’s finest motorcars, and Vintage Magnetos keeps a lot of them running when others can’t as master of the lost art of the magneto.
Heroes, each. And they couldn’t be any more local.