England travel advice, anyone?

[barorg]

Guys - non tech question here, but I know someone will have an idea or two.

I will be London in the springtime, and I am wondering if anyone can suggest a must-visit Porsche-related business, museum or location - race track? builders? I can travel outside of London, of course, so any reasonable suggestions are welcome.

Many thanks in advance!

[URY914]

The F1 races shops would be a must see for me. They must have some type of tours/museums/shops for the public.

[MFAFF]

Lots of well known Porsche business around Oxford....
Autofarm (moving early 2019 to Boxengasse near Bicester)
Tuthill Porsche (closer to Banbury)
Neil Bainbridge Motorsport.

All very friendly places... often happy to have a conversation with enthusiasts.... and show them around their workshops etc if they have time..

Also nearby is the Porsche Experience at the Silverstone GP circuit.

The 'local F1' teams have relatively little public access museums etc...as far as I know... perhaps a glimpse of some trophies and a few chassis.. however most are behind a security barrier. It might be worth e-mailing in advance. Local teams are Force India at Silverstone, AMG Mercedes in Brackley (near Silverstone) and Red Bull in Milton Keynes.
Willaims are at Grove south of Oxford.

Couple of posters here are in F1 teams.... might want to touch base with them.

Also near Oxford is the Bicester Heritage Centre... Porsche Classic have a little short here and there are a slew of very high end sales showrooms and engineering shops there... well worth going for a Sunday Scramble event (early Sunday am meeting when everything is open) dates for 2019 should be on their website.

Museums close to London are Brooklands....a train ride from Waterloo to find yourself at the world first racing circuit.... loads of historic and more recent cars and planes as well. A day out at least, nothing Porsche there though as it closed before WW2.

In London there is a Porsche Centre on Berkeley Square... near the Bentley/ Bugatti showroom and next to the Rolls Royce one.. slightly surreal.
McLaren are at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge.
HR Owen are near South Kensington tube station... and Fiskens are round the corner in Queens Gate Mews. They often have some rather special classic 911s in stock.

Further afield its worth checking dates of the Goodwood Breakfast meeting in the spring, monthly 'themed' breakfast based events on track. Normally a large number of interesting cars turn up... not always linked to the theme.

Might help a bit....

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

McLaren shop? Park lane/knightsbridge if you're in the west end.

Hah, lived and worked in Knightsbridge for a spell during the 90's

Had no idea it was there.

[Won]

Really good info from M above already.

Apparently, the lobby of Red Bull Racing HQ in Milton Keynes is open to public, but do check before you go. Williams has a really nice museum with their old cars on display but I don't think you can just enter unless you have business to be there; maybe Captain can confirm. All other teams are off limits as far as I know. If you come to Brackley you will be able to take a picture of this nice sign outside the gates:



I just went to my first Sunday Scramble at Bicester Heritage earlier this month. I think the next ones are early January and late April. Apparently there was a whole section of car club parking which I missed, where people bring their normal, everyday drivers like 993RS and so on. Coming from Canada, many of the cars, even relatively mundane ones, were new to me, so it was pretty cool. You can show up in chill gear or you can dress up like you're going to Goodwood Revival, your choice.




I think BMW/Mini Park Lane usually has a few funky cars on display. There is also the British Motor Museum for a decidedly non-Porsche experience.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by MFAFF

Lots of well known Porsche business around Oxford....
Autofarm (moving early 2019 to Boxengasse near Bicester)
Tuthill Porsche (closer to Banbury)
Neil Bainbridge Motorsport.

All very friendly places... often happy to have a conversation with enthusiasts.... and show them around their workshops etc if they have time..

Also nearby is the Porsche Experience at the Silverstone GP circuit.

The 'local F1' teams have relatively little public access museums etc...as far as I know... perhaps a glimpse of some trophies and a few chassis.. however most are behind a security barrier. It might be worth e-mailing in advance. Local teams are Force India at Silverstone, AMG Mercedes in Brackley (near Silverstone) and Red Bull in Milton Keynes.
Willaims are at Grove south of Oxford.

Couple of posters here are in F1 teams.... might want to touch base with them.

Also near Oxford is the Bicester Heritage Centre... Porsche Classic have a little short here and there are a slew of very high end sales showrooms and engineering shops there... well worth going for a Sunday Scramble event (early Sunday am meeting when everything is open) dates for 2019 should be on their website.

Museums close to London are Brooklands....a train ride from Waterloo to find yourself at the world first racing circuit.... loads of historic and more recent cars and planes as well. A day out at least, nothing Porsche there though as it closed before WW2.

In London there is a Porsche Centre on Berkeley Square... near the Bentley/ Bugatti showroom and next to the Rolls Royce one.. slightly surreal.
McLaren are at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge.
HR Owen are near South Kensington tube station... and Fiskens are round the corner in Queens Gate Mews. They often have some rather special classic 911s in stock.

Further afield its worth checking dates of the Goodwood Breakfast meeting in the spring, monthly 'themed' breakfast based events on track. Normally a large number of interesting cars turn up... not always linked to the theme.

Might help a bit....

Great info.,

F1 teams don't generally allow visits from the public unless it is part of an event. Even employee's will struggle to get friends in for a factory/museum tour.

I smuggled my Old English sheep dog into two F1 factories, he pee'd on a potted plant at one place and had a swim in the pond of another, ah those were the days

Williams museum has a good collection of cars but not open to the public unless access is part of a conference. I know they do put on F1 race screenings but not sure if you can buy a ticket.

A couple of other places that you may want to check out,

Ace Cafe, in London so easy to get too
Caterham Cars in Crawley, possible to get there by train
Morgan in the beautiful Malvern hills do factory tours and I can highly recommend visiting as there aren't too many cars being made using a jig from the early 1900's

I'd email, every team or company as you never know, you may even be invited in for a look

[barorg]

Wow, thank you everyone that answered! great info, I will be looking into it and if there's anything that I find exceptional when we're there, I'll post a trip report!

[Eric 951]

As Ahab mentioned. The Ace Cafe--check their website, they usually have a themed car and/or bike show every night in their parking lot, and have larger-scale shows at other times. (I just missed the Porsche night by (1) day)

[barorg]

Originally Posted by Eric 951

As Ahab mentioned. The Ace Cafe--check their website, they usually have a themed car and/or bike show every night in their parking lot, and have larger-scale shows at other times. (I just missed the Porsche night by (1) day)

https://london.acecafe.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/11/monthly-meets-cars-2018.pdf