THE Banbury Run, one of Britain's biggest vintage motorcycle rallies, is looking for a new home. Building work starts soon at the event's current base, Drayton School, which means the site cannot be used next year, and possibly not in the future.

An alternative venue for the annual run - the first was in 1949 - is proving hard to find.

Drayton has been the run's base for nine years, but changes brought about by the school's conversion to academy status mean that the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, which organises the event, have been told to find new facilities.

This year's rally, which took place on Sunday, could be the last in Banbury - though organisers say they will try to retain the name 'Banbury Run.' VMCC spokesman Fred Dumbleton said: "The site will not be available to us next year. It is not clear what will happen after that.

"The management of the school will change and future policy might be different to that of the past. At the moment, there is no-one to hold discussions with.

"The problem is that we need a large space with more than one entrance. Competitors start and finish the run at the site, and they need different access to spectators.

"There is the possibility that next year, the 60th anniversary run, could take place at Gaydon Heritage Centre. Banbury Town Council has been helpful and we have looked at a couple of sites including Chipping Warden airfield."

This is not the first time the event has had problems.

The run originally started from Banbury Cross, but as it grew in popularity it needed more space.

In the 1950s and 60s the event started and finished at the now-closed cattle market, and during a previous 'homeless' spell, was based at Towcester Racecourse, though it kept the name Banbury Run.

Mr Dumbleton said: "Going to Towcester meant we couldn't use Sunrising Hill as part of the route - and that is one challenge we like to keep for riders and machines."

Banbury mayor Kieron Mallon, who flagged away the first of this year's competitors, said: "This is a massively popular event. People come from all over the world and I would not like to see it go elsewhere. I have just started the 59th run, and I would like it to see 60 years, and hopefully 100 years."

A spokesman for Drayton School confirmed that building work would prevent next year's run taking place at the school, and said that for future years, the VMCC would have to negotiate with the North Oxfordshire Academy.

Banbury has been a motorcycling centre since the 1920s when the Coventry and Birmingham factories of Norton, AJS, and Triumph used the hills of Sunrising and The Knoll, to test new machines.

The Banbury Run began in 1949 when Ivor Mutton - a member of the newly formed Vintage Motor Cycle Club - proposed a reliability trial from Birmingham to Banbury.

Nowadays, the run's 500 competitor limit is always oversubscribed, and this year more than a hundred entrants were balloted out.

The event includes a massive market - hundreds of stalls selling motorcycle memorabilia and spare parts.