To say we are rather pleased with how the Track Attack event went at Brands Hatch would be an understatement! It’s now almost a week since the storm ended and the “calm” was meant to appear – however at VW Heritage and across the VW Scene also, the buzz is continuing from this weekday mega meet!
There wasn’t an official count up on the night (we were a bit busy!) but an educated estimation would suggest 1500 cars in attendance. Which is quite a lot, especially for a Wednesday night! Before we explain what we enjoyed the most, and who won what… we really need to tip our hats to those that helped put this event on with us.
Ryan and Anna at Prept – It was “their” night that we were invited too, for which we were very grateful to be asked back for a second year. The guys from Cool Flo Vintage put in a huge amount of effort into the show and the party; their DJ kept everyone in high spirits with great tunes start to finish. Simon and Phil from the Apex Festival were a great help with all things track related, and were working tirelessly helping those about to head out onto the circuit. You may also of seen some of their video footage post event here – Simon was driving around with a whole load of cameras ontop of his car! A big thanks to Nick and all the team at Brands Hatch for assisting in every aspect of the event – a special mention to the guys in the track sign on office – they had huge queues of petrol heads to help, and dealt with them brilliantly.
The event, like any had a few hiccups – thanks to everyone who persevered with us and park at the top while the bottom paddock was being emptied of Caterhams… sure you will agree that it was worth the wait! We are also very appreciative of all those who endured the traffic jams on the M25, in heatwave conditions so they could be at our event. To those who skived off work to make it… hope you don’t get in too much trouble / get caught! If you missed it, it’s another reason to follow VW Heritage on Facebook… don’t get caught out again!
The volume of cars and buses in attendance was frankly ridiculous, and the fact they spanned such a huge area meant the pitlane was like another show all on its own. Luckily for me, I wasn’t on “winner picking duty” as that must have been a tough tough job.
Some most deserving cars were chosen though.. from a DIY restored Razor-edge Ghia, to a one owner from new (still original owner) 1966 Beetle.
How about the winners of our furthest travelled award?! They have covered 70,000 miles in the their Westy in the last 3 years and came from Canada!! Check out their blog here to see where they have been, and what they have been up to. The best of show in the Aircooled Class going to this red Cal look Oval rag top.
On the watercooled front there was no letting up on the quality of winning vehicles, Golf Mk1s, a Mk2 Jetta taking best stance, and a Mk4 Golf airbagged R32 scooping the coveted Watercooled best in show to name a few.
Out on track a spectrum of german vehicles took to the tarmac in a quest to make the most of the bargain track time, many with a mate strapped in for a free ride too! The surprises of T4s and T25s giving it some welly on track started the circuit based entertainment alongside their aircooled cousins in Beetles and Buses; grins were guaranteed, even if you were only watching!
Two watercooled VW sessions were filled with Volkswagen Golfs, Passats, Ventos and Polos old and new, a German session offered those in other VAG models to get in on the action heading into battle with a number of BMWs and Mercedes.
The highlight on track for us was set to be the “expert sessions” with proper race cars, featuring no class restrictions, so anything was possible, all going head to head in some serious demonstration laps… Mk1 Golfs teaching Porsches a lesson is always good to watch! The Nothelle Golf Mk1 race car made its UK track debut and featured in at least 4 classes, wowing the crowds with its retina scorching paint and Marcus Nothelle at the wheel who was not at all shy when it came to the throttle pedal!
As for the Beetle challenge cars, well I was lucky enough to bag a ride courtesy of Lawrence in the Volksworld race car. I was most impressed by the VW Heritage 1641cc lump that powered it, with about 75 bhp on tap it seemed more than sufficient to raise my pulse. Lawrence on the other hand screamed “We need more power” – I suppose it wouldn’t hurt?! ? The track is far hillier than it appears as a spectator.. and I’ve got a funny feeling this won’t be the last I see of it. (may have an itch or two to scratch now!)
The night sadly had to come to an end… and as we try to relive it through the great photos and videos doing the rounds, all comments and forum threads are being taken on board for the almost inevitable next time….
See you there!
Andy
Sorry for lack of photo credits, we used so many pics we can’t remember where they all came from! Please comment with which pics are yours, and we will give you a credit on the picture.
Was an awesome day / evening… met some great people in the pits (both the racers, crew, trackday participants and of course sun kissed spectators!)
Was a real bonus to see the Nothelle Mk1 make its UK debut along side some of other incredible machinery…
I mean where else have you seen a BTCC Golf, Porsche & Retro race machinery like the numerous Mk1 golfs and of course the bugs…
I did hear a few spectators cheering on Johnny Ace in his black VW Beetle when he ‘did’ a Porsche and went on to challenge some of the other race exotica!.. the question that was reverberating was Q: “What has he got in the back of that?” … A: “A fresh built and highly modified T25 Wasser engine!”.. so he wasn’t going quite as quick as he wanted either!….. well all race drivers say pull the ‘I could go quicker’ card! LoL
From the pits we could all see the cars arriving and the paddock filling up.. it was incredible for a Wednesday evening.. and a lots of fun was had both on and off the track. The atmosphere was electric, the vibe was friendly and there was a lot of ‘knowledge’ being shared amongst the racers and advice/tips given to individuals that wanted to get a little bit more out of their track day sessions.
Was a great evening partnering with some great individuals and companies to bring this mid-week extravaganza together and have a whole bundle of fun in the process…
Cheers everyone… .and we mean everyone as its the people that make the event.. and it was a great crowd….
The Apex Crew will be publishing more videos from the ‘Track Attack’ shortly and will also be announcing the 2013 dates for the Apex Festival… so if you loved the ‘Track Attack’ you’ll want to put these new dates in your diary too, as we will all be coming together again to put on another great event of ‘Show and Go’
http://www.facebook.com/vwheritage
http://www.facebook.com/apexfestival
Was an awesome day / evening… met some great people in the pits (both the racers, crew, trackday participants and of course sun kissed spectators!)
Was a real bonus to see the Nothelle Mk1 make its UK debut along side some of other incredible machinery…
I mean where else have you seen a BTCC Golf, Porsche & Retro race machinery like the numerous Mk1 golfs and of course the bugs…
I did hear a few spectators cheering on Johnny Ace in his black VW Beetle when he ‘did’ a Porsche and went on to challenge some of the other race exotica!.. the question that was reverberating was Q: “What has he got in the back of that?” … A: “A fresh built and highly modified T25 Wasser engine!”.. so he wasn’t going quite as quick as he wanted either!….. well all race drivers say pull the ‘I could go quicker’ card! LoL
From the pits we could all see the cars arriving and the paddock filling up.. it was incredible for a Wednesday evening.. and a lots of fun was had both on and off the track. The atmosphere was electric, the vibe was friendly and there was a lot of ‘knowledge’ being shared amongst the racers and advice/tips given to individuals that wanted to get a little bit more out of their track day sessions.
Was a great evening partnering with some great individuals and companies to bring this mid-week extravaganza together and have a whole bundle of fun in the process…
Cheers everyone… .and we mean everyone as its the people that make the event.. and it was a great crowd….
The Apex Crew will be publishing more videos from the ‘Track Attack’ shortly and will also be announcing the 2013 dates for the Apex Festival… so if you loved the ‘Track Attack’ you’ll want to put these new dates in your diary too, as we will all be coming together again to put on another great event of ‘Show and Go’
http://www.facebook.com/vwheritage
http://www.facebook.com/apexfestival
we had a great time there with our Kamei Golf with it’s 1st proper shake down on track since the new build started.
a very well organised event with exotic machinery.
We had a great team of friends to help us out with a few technical issues before and during the event and having Uwe of kamei fly over for the day was the icing on the cake and getting him in the car, also to have our period car with the Nothelle Golf just like our last event at gti international….. it was like a time warp back to the mid 70’s!!!!
Seing the AmD BTCC Golf in front of us was also a pleasure along with friends in their race spec machines.
thanks all and to those we met or helped out.
roll on next year
mike & susan flynn
our blog on the event is found here in our build thread half way down page 52 and onto the following page:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?59459/page52
we had a great time there with our Kamei Golf with it’s 1st proper shake down on track since the new build started.
a very well organised event with exotic machinery.
We had a great team of friends to help us out with a few technical issues before and during the event and having Uwe of kamei fly over for the day was the icing on the cake and getting him in the car, also to have our period car with the Nothelle Golf just like our last event at gti international….. it was like a time warp back to the mid 70’s!!!!
Seing the AmD BTCC Golf in front of us was also a pleasure along with friends in their race spec machines.
thanks all and to those we met or helped out.
roll on next year
mike & susan flynn
our blog on the event is found here in our build thread half way down page 52 and onto the following page:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?59459/page52