Slough Swapmeet

8.02 @ 169mph!

Richie Webb does it again, setting a new PB at Santa Pod over the weekend.

Now for a winter of making it go faster...

Help!

Is anyone out there, within reasonable distance of Bicester, able to hang a pair of Beetle doors?

Ellie's Angel is nearly done - all that's left now is for me to jam the fuel pump on and for someone else to gap the doors. I've had a go at it, it ain't happening. The doors fit, they were on when it was painted, but will they now? Like hell...

So, is anyone out there able to save the day and release Angel back into the wild - and give me my garage back?

Coming up...

This weekend sees the last of the 3 Santa Pod VW weekenders. All the usual guff and nonsense with the added bonus that it's VW-only RWYB (plus invited guests) so no lines of Corsas etc clogging the fire up lane.

This year's theme is Zombie Fright Night so expect lots of hilarious people in bad costumes causing a nuisance throughout the weekend. Friday night sees Ivan McCutcheon and Niki Dimensions playing House and D&B. Saturday night is the usual Jensen D Groover farce. Alternatively there's the Scary Monsters indie party in the Fuellers Bar both nights.

Saturday night sees Shaun of the Dead being shown in the Fuellers Bar after the noise has stopped.

Tickets are £40 on the gate
(under 13s go free)

(clickety fo' biggety)

Don't Call It A Comeback...

Less than 2 weeks after the Slough Swapmeet shuffled off this mortal coil a group of enthusiasts have come together and performed CPR.

Details are still being finalised but it will be at Montem Sports Centre, Slough on November 2nd.
As well as the swapmeet there will be trophies for classes yet to be decided.

If you want to book a table please email traders@sloughswapmeet.co.uk

Slough Swapmeet

Pollock, in the guise of intrepid investigative reporter, has received this message from the infamous John Daniel regarding this year's swapmeet:

"Regretfully, the committee decided at the post mortem meeting last December to wind up the event as we were told that Slough Council are planning to demolish the Centre and the Ice Arena in the next couple of years or so.
This news of a closure, allied to the general decline in attendance and the poor health of a senior committee member, resulted in the member's decision to call it a day.

We would like to thank all VW aircooled owners, traders and visitors, who have supported the event over the years".

Edit: It's back! See here or in the comments below.

Coming up...

NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals

1st - 3rd August

Shuttleworth College, Old Warden Park, near Biggleswade

Europe's biggest and best Hot Rod show is on next weekend. Friday and Saturday are for weekend visitors only but Sunday is the main show day and open to all.

This year's special guest is American journalist/author/Hot Rodding historian Pat Ganahl.

Sunday Tickets are £8 for adults, children £4

Gates open 10am
(9am for show cars)

Sat Nav: SG18 9EA

Bug Jam tips from Fake Science

Bug Jam Club Camping

From Santa Pod:

 

"Bug Jam, of course, is still aimed fairly and squarely at die-hard Volkswagen enthusiasts and the loyal VW clubs are a very important part of the show. So we’ll be moving the club camping pitches to a much higher profile location bringing more of these often hidden gems to the fore. This will release more space for our general campers and consequently should allow most of our day visitors to park on site minimising the need for a park and ride service."

The actual club plot lay-out will be published later this week, once they've finished shuffling all the little bits of card around. I remember when Club Camping was along the bottom of the banking. Mind you it was all fields around here then, mutter, grumble, moan, ooh, my poor old back, etc etc...

Oooh, aaaaah, pretty

(sorry about the music...)

8.14s @ 167mph

Richie Webb was racing in the Super Comp class at Santa Pod's Summernationals at the weekend, setting a new Personal Best along the way...

 

And the onboard shot (ffwd to 3m10s)

Keep Britain Tidy

Lazy Sunday

This Sunday sees the Wolfsburg Weedhuggers hold their Lazy Day one day show.

It's held at the Black Horse, Great Missenden, nr Aylesbury and features free entry, free autojumble pitches, licensed bar & BBQ, kids zone, bouncy castle, BMX display and a VW Show & Shine.

Gate opens 10.30am
Dogs on a lead are welcome
SatNav: HP16 9AX

Lazy Day 2013

Coming up...

This weekend sees a couple of events to choose from, weather permitting. 

UK Cal Look Drag Day

The 2014 California Look Drag Day will be held over the weekend of the 7th & 8th of June. Still at Shakespeare County Raceway (a.k.a Avon Park), and still open to Flat Four VW's capable of 15.99 seconds and quicker 1/4 mile ET's (which excludes most of the VWDRC).

Hope to see a good turnout again - this years event will see the some of the quickest VW's in Europe (and the world) in attendance, as well as the cars that made it all happen - proper street driven cal lookers - put through their paces on the strip.

Tickets are £12 a day for adults, children under 16 go free.

Also on this weekend  is the Retro & Classic Show at Old Warden Park near Biggleswade.

Open to all types of retro and Classics vehicles, cars, commercial, army, vans, bikes, scooters, hot rods. Alongside a beautiful selection of Retro and Classic Vehicles there will be Club Stands, Trade Stalls, autojumble, fantastic Club Displays, Show n Shine,  food court, refreshments, vintage fair, entertainment and lots lots more.

Trophies for: Best 7o's, Best Pre 70's, Best 80's, Best Original, Best Original Bike, Best Classic Bike, Best Cafe Racer, Best Modern Retro, Oldest Vehicle in Show, Best Modified, Best Sports Car, Best Commercial, Best Car in Show and Best Bike in Show.

Tickets are £10 per car (up to 4 people)

And a heads up for next weekend:

VW Expo @ Stonor Park

Time for Stonor again, the sun was out, the sky was blue and all was good in the world (if your name isn't Reece) although John Daniels was seemingly even more embarrassing than usual.

Daphne pictured in the wild

and Danny could be arsed enough to fit the rear bumper

A companion for Pollock's Brown Love Beetle

Pop-Outs are so-o-o-o-o-o common

Lovely, simple early dash

yes please

Oh God, another one

Why?

Coming up...

VW Expo @ Stonor Park

This weekend sees the 30th running of this event, a long time favourite and Lo 'E' Nuf's "local" show.

All the usual stuff: Trade Stands & Autojumble, Concours d’Elegance, Club Displays, Air-cooled Avenue, Miss VW contest and Children’s Fancy Dress (under 12’s).
Also this year they are celebrating 40 years of the Golf & Scirocco.

Tickets:

Adults £10

Rug rats and brats under 16 go free

Satnav: RG9 6HF

Chiltern Hills Rally

This year's Chiltern Hills Rally was held at a new venue in Weedon, just outside Aylesbury, and featured all the usual attractions: vintage and classic cars, autojumble, craft stalls, dog show and large kids' fun area. The show venue had moved due to the previous site being prone to flooding - no chance of that happening this year, the main risk being sun burn.

Citroen BX based Dualatron

Watch out, it's the Rozzers

Rat-Look Singer Le Mans

One for Toby

The Bertini GT25 is a new re-skin kit for the BMW Z3

The mighty Mitsuoka Viewt

A Birks Motors regular spotted in the wild

A standard Caddy - a very rare beast

Coming up...

In the US they have the Hot Rod Power Tour where over 2000 cars take part in a week long cruise visiting a different car show or drag strip each day.

This year some of the folk at the V8UK Forum decided to 'ave some of that and came up with the UK Power Tour, visiting 3 drag strips in 3 days over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Starting at 9am on Saturday at the Southern Counties Raceway 1/8th mile strip in Rye, Sussex before visiting the Yanks Weekend at Avon Park and Volks Power's Power Fest at York Off Road Centre Raceway. (Santa Pod is holding the FIA European Championships this weekend so is unable to host the Power Tour).

The rules are simple:
MOT & Tax
Street Tyres
Valid Insurance
1 Run at each strip qualifies you in the event
Fastest timing slip of the day to be handed in
No Bikes
No Trade Plates
No Rental Cars
No Support Vehicles
Pump Gas Only (If you can find it at a petrol station you can stick it in)
Equipment rules apply to street and strip

There are 2 classes: V8s and The Others.

Sunday at Avon Park is the Yanks Weekend (inc Gary's Picnic) and features Big Bucks Bracket Gamblers, Supercharged Outlaws, Outlaw Street, Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing, Honda Drag Series, European Outlaw Flat Four VWs, National Association of Supertwins, 8.50/9.50 Bike & ET Bike and the Tot Rod Drags.

Sunday Tickets are £15, kids under 16 go free.

Cor blimey!

Sal's car is nearly there, just a couple more finishing touches and then it's Stonor Park here we come.

Coming up...

This Sunday is the Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally, back after a year's break. Featuring just about everything from steam engines to vintage and classic cars and customs. Along side is a large autojumble, craft stalls, dog show, children's rides and a beer tent.

New Venue

This year's show is at Weedon Park near Aylesbury

Sat Nav: HP22 4NN

Tickets: Adults £6, children go free

Gates open 10am

Also on is the LTVVWOC's Dubs At The Park held at Easthampstead Park near Bracknell.

BBQ, Beer tent, traders, bands & DJs are all there to distract you from the hundreds of VWs.

Tickets are £5 for adults, children under 16 go free.