“A celebration of Porsche’s air-cooled evolution. Bringing together the like-minded, easy-going and devil may care camaraderie of air-cooled Porsche culture and heritage.”

This was the proud statement on the event’s page on the Boxengasse website and it could not be more accurate. I’ll go further and say that the statement rather undersold the event, at least to me. I thought it was just another car event/meet and almost missed it.
I’m glad I did not miss it.

Simply put, it was one of the best car-centered events this petrolhead has ever attended. Full stop. Only the Goodwood Festival of Speed rivals it in my affections.


Boxengasse.

Oilcooled 2019 was held at Boxengasse, located in 100 acres of beautiful Oxfordshire countryside and just over an hours’ drive for me from West London. Boxengasse is basically a Porsche destination with bespoke-built premises for services and hospitality and is the brainchild of Frank Cassidy, a Porsche devotee if ever there was one. Correction, an air-cooled Porsche devotee if ever there was one. In short, Boxengasse is a business park for Porsches.

The Porsche specialists, Autofarm, is the first resident here. They recently moved into their purpose-built facility and it was stuffed with all manner of exotic and historic Porsches. There were THREE 2.7 RS’, including the last-ever right-hand drive RS, the ‘Trinidad RS’ undergoing restoration. This is the only 2.7 RS without that famous ducktail spoiler and was once owned by a friend’s dad! There were a further three 2.7 RS’ parked outside.

Frank’s own personal collection of air-cooled Porsches is housed in one of the buildings and is worth a visit by itself.

I will bring you more details and the background story on the man, the business and his vision later on this year when we sit down with Frank for a chat.


The drive.

I met up with Dave and Alex, two ‘Ring nuts in their track-ready cars, a Mk1 911 GT3 and an E46 M3 CSL at Beaconsfield services for the cross-country A and B-road drive to Boxengasse. The drive out of Beaconsfield at that time of the day was the usual stop-start drive through several town centers. The rain made things worse and I initially wished we had simply taken the M40, a wish which was soon banished from my mind because the roads soon cleared, the traffic disappeared and the sun came out to reveal glorious Oxfordshire countryside bisected by typical English B-roads. And I was driving a Porsche 911 GT3, chasing another GT3 while being chased by an M3 CSL.

A fabulous start to the day.


2nd-class citizens

We had to slow down a few kilometers out because the area around Boxengasse contained many stables and we had to avoid startling the horses that inhabited them. Sports mode was deactivated and exhausts were put in the quiet mode, and this reduced and calm pace only helped us to appreciate the beauty of the area.

We got to the entrance and were directed to the ‘water-cooled’ parking area which was farther away from the center of the action. The inner parking areas were reserved for ‘air-cooled’ Porsches, that is Porsche 911 models made before 1996. Other Porsche models such as the Speedster, also qualified for preferential parking and treatment.
Since I was driving a modern Porsche, a water-cooled one, I was in effect, a 2nd-class citizen at Oilcooled 2019.

I have never been happier to be a 2nd-class citizen. What of our M3 CSL-driving friend? He was directed to the non-Porsche parking area, the furthest away from the center.
Serves him right for driving a BMW!


The day got even better.

We parked up in our allocated parking spaces set around a beautiful lake, and this made for a stunning backdrop for all the sensational Porsches parked along the eastern side of the lake. It seemed even the sun was carefully positioned to provide the most optimal conditions for car photography.

There was also food and a live band and a drive-in cinema the day before!
I would have liked to experience that. Porsches, food, friends and Steve McQueen on the big screen in a beautiful location.
What more can a petrolhead ask for?

I sincerely hope this event becomes a permanent yearly fixture in the motoring calendar, it definitely deserves it. It deserves it because it is a truly unique and enjoyable event based in a destination business park in fabulous Oxfordshire countryside.

What’s not to like?
Till the next time.


There are about 160 pictures in the four galleries above, please feel free to mention your favorites in the comments section below.