It was a weekend of perfect settings in which to showcase the guests’ BMW i8s – both in the grounds of The Manor Country House Hotel where the guests stayed, and a vast aircraft hangar at Bicester Heritage – as well as the E-Copper BMW i8 Roadster and BMW i3s supplied by BMW in the UK.

Displayed to perfection in the hotel’s wonderful garden, guests could admire these special vehicles while relaxing before the opening evening’s events: an official welcome by BMW’s Marcus Pluntke, the scenic drive roadbook handout and briefing, and then a three-course dinner in the hotel’s historic Baron’s Hall.

The centrepiece of the weekend was Saturday’s scenic drive, which offered the ‘best of British’ to the 56 BMW i Pure Impulse members from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Seventy-five miles of driving through beautiful rural settings ended at Bicester Heritage, the UK’s new centre for motoring excellence, where the guests’ BMW i8s were parked in a spectacular formation inside an old aircraft hangar.

Bright sunshine lit up Bicester Heritage’s stunningly restored grounds, as the guests took a tour of the on-site automotive businesses as well as locations for such films as The Imitation Game and Darkest Hour. A typical British picnic-style lunch re-energised the members before an organised departure led them on the scenic drive back to the hotel.

The late afternoon and evening activities saw the guests head to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, for afternoon tea and an after-hours tour, before they finished the day among Oxford’s ‘dreaming spires’ with dinner at The Quod Restaurant. After dinner, Marcus Pluntke gave a farewell and thank you speech before guests returned to the hotel for further drinks and chats late into the evening.

The final morning provided a further opportunity to admire the remaining vehicles at the hotel and for members to ensure that driving ‘in company’ was not just an activity for the previous day. After enjoying a wonderful weekend in the country, those driving back to mainland Europe arranged to take the journey together.