VW Days 2017

Published June 16th, 2017

Words and Photography: Michal Fidowicz 

 

You know what I’m just going to jump straight in and say that VW Days was an experience I will never forget, and funnily enough I didn’t even know I was going until the Wednesday prior. I guess it was a mixture of seeing how much fun people had abroad in Worthersee, and what Alex described to me as “fomo” (Fear of missing out, to you and me) that made us bite the bullet and go on an adventure. We knew our friends have booked ferries and hotels long in advance, and despite them asking me to come along before I said I wasn’t able to make it. This was mainly due to having limited funds and the fact that no one else really wanted to come along with me.

This was until Tuesday, when Alex chucked in the classic “who’s down for VW Days?” message in the group chat. I bet he didn’t expect anyone to actually agree, but before we knew it I was in a group chat with him and Jack, browsing directferries.co.uk. The tickets were cheap… like £70 split between 3 people cheap. Onto the next issue then – have any of us been camping  before? No. Did one of us have a tent? Yes. So with all the important stuff taken care of, we patiently twiddled our thumbs until Friday.

In the mean time, Alex did the most appropriate thing he could have done, and got racing name decals on the side of his car.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, it’s 11:00, we’ve had 2 hours sleep between the three of us and I was crammed in the back seat… however we were in France. It was 28oc, the scenery was beautiful, I was holding a lovely cool bottle of Yop, there were endless VAG cars as far as the eye could see and spirits were high. We pulled into the local petrol station to meet some of our friends, where we bumped into Alex and Sean who were giving their static E36s a bath. Alex decided to join in, and I took some photographs.

 

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After a brief chat, we shot off our own separate ways and proceeded to head towards the main show ground. Clocking a good 160mph down empty French country roads, it’s safe to save Alex made the most of being surrounded by fields of wheat and no speed cameras.

We set up camp upon arrival and proceeded to do what everyone at VW Days did – drink beer. It was amazing, we had great weather in a stunning location, surrounded by close friends and stunning show cars. I think you can forgive me for putting my camera down on Saturday and not taking photos of anything. Although if you follow our Instagram, you would have seen the antics we got up to during the rest of the day. It’s safe to say, the French know how to have a good, good time.

Sunday was no disappointment, the doors opened for the main show and shine and VW Days was cracking on at full steam. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the photos below…

 

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Despite being called VW Days, the organisers won’t turn away jaw dropping builds. Plus, a little bit of variety won’t hurt anyone…

 

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An active strip allowed cars to loop around the camp side during Saturday. Think of this of it as a tiny, tiny take on America’s H2Oi, where you could sit down with your mates, and watch a rolling car show go by. While it must be a ball-ache for the orgnaisers, it gave the show a much better sense of community, with everyone chatting and sharing opinions, throwing thumbs up or cheering on cars that stood out to them. It almost seemed like the language barrier disappeared. Ignoring the fact that the car has my name on the side of it, Alex’s S1 definitely stood out from the crowd during the show. The brute force of the engine and exhaust system allowed Alex to milk the terrific sound coming from his S1. The French absolutely loved it, we were getting endless cheers and attention as we rolled through the strip. It’s almost as if we were in a full on race car…

 

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The Europeans definitely have their own take on the stance game. A take I fully welcome as their builds were definitely done to a very high standard. A well fitted wheel choice made you king, and it’s fair to say the French love their OEM wheels. It’s definitely a change of pace from the UK shows.

 

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Im going to wrap it up here and leave you guys with some rollers. Honestly, if you’ve not been to VW Days, put next year’s show on the to-do list. There’s nothing quite like spending the weekend with friends, drinking foreign beer, holding a sign which says “DO LE BURNOUT” whilst watching a drunk French man cheer on a Belgian whos bouncing it off the rev-limiter.

A weekend I will never forget, and look forward to doing again.

Thank you for reading, and see you at Players Classic tomorrow.

 

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