The station closed in March 1958, and after being used as a motor vehicle test track, it has been subject to planning permission from the ProdriveFormula One team for development of their Fulcrum test and development facility however this has been cancelled.
From September 2014 the site has been used by Jaguar Land Rover for heritage driving experiences with the location being known as Fen End.
Originally called Ramsey, it was renamed RAF Honiley in August 1941, and used by a variety of squadrons defending the Midlands during the Second World War.[2]
No. 257 Squadron RAF started using the airfield from 7 November 1941 before this the squadron was at RAF Coltishall. The squadron flying both the Hawker Hurricane I/IIA/IIB/IIC and the Spitfire VB until 6 June 1942 when the squadron moved to RAF High Ercall.[11]
In addition to their existing automotive consultancy business, which was based at the site from 2001, in March 2006 motor racing company Prodrive announced its intent to build a £200 million, 200-acre (0.8 km2) motorsport facility called The Fulcrum.[22] Prodrive's statement in the planning application for the facility – which could house as many as 1,000 staff – boasted of "a motorsport complex which could eventually house Prodrive's new British Prodrive F1 team", further cementing Managing Director David Richards' intention to return to F1 in 2008.[23]
As of 3 August 2006, Prodrive won the support of the Warwick District Council planning committee for development of The Fulcrum.[24] The permission covered a highly advanced engineering research and development campus, a conference facility called the Catalyst Centre and new access road, a roundabout, infrastructure, parking and landscaping. The plans still had to be presented and agreed by the British government's Department for Communities and Local Government, and there was local opposition via the Fulcrum Prodrive Action Group (FPAG) to protect the rural nature of the community and the safety of the people that live within it.[21]
However, following rule changes banning so-called 'customer' cars from competing in F1, and legal proceedings undertaken by existing F1 manufacturer teams, Prodrive's F1 plans were shelved indefinitely. Since the sale of the site to Jaguar Land Rover in 2014, Prodrive's business remains based at their Banbury headquarters.[25]
It is also the site of the HON (Honiley) VOR-DME navigation aid, which is positioned to the south of the track.[26]
The old turbine development buildings, previously re-purposed and used as administration offices by Lucas Automotive have been left by Prodrive in the same state they were when Lucas first vacated the site and have become a popular site for Urban Explorers.[27]
In 2011, the disused administrative building on the site was used as a set by the metalcore band Oceans Ate Alaska in the music video for their debut single Clocks.[28]
The site was purchased by Jaguar Land Rover in 2014[29] who moved their Heritage Driving Experience[30] operations to it from their Gaydon facility based at the former RAF Gaydon. It currently (as of December 2017) also houses their press car operations, as well as part of their Special Vehicle Operations division.
Falconer, J. (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN978-1-85780-349-5.
Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1981-1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN0-85130-164-9.