Wheels Day revisited

I gave up trying to get to Wheels Day when I was 3 hours into a 90 minute journey with at least another hour to go. It took an hour to queue across Guildford and the queue didn't let up for the next 10 miles! Meanwhile Pollock and Julia slipped in the back entrance with no trouble and had a lovely time.

Surrey Street Rodders have issued the following statement:

The 40th Wheels Day was not as the Surrey Street Rodders would have wished.
We anticipated an attendance of 6,000 people which would have been an increase of 50% of our best ever Wheels Day.
Dunsfold Park has informed us the actual number on Good Friday was in excess of 18,000.
We are sorry for the problems this unprecedented turnout of vehicles caused.
At one point we did stop charging entry, in order to get as many people as possible on site and try to alleviate the 12 mile traffic jam.
Since the show a tirade of negative forum postings, abusive phone calls, emails and now accusations of inappropriate dealings with Wheels Day money have led to the following decision.

There will be no more Wheels Day in its present form.

The Surrey Street Rodders would like to thank everybody who has supported us in the past 40 years and helped so many charities; you are a credit to our hobby. 

Fingers crossed that Wheels Day returns in some way in the future...

St George's Day

 

Today we celebrate St George, the 3rd Century Greek-Palestinian serving in the Roman Army who was beheaded for his beliefs but is now recognised as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and a prominent military saint (shurely a contradiction in terms?) Oh, and a dragon's in there somewhere as well, obviously.

8.2s @ 167mph

Santa Pod hosted the Festival of Power over the Easter weekend and Richie Webb was there with his 'new' Cabrio complete with a winter's worth of tweaks. He entered in the Super Comp class which has a class break-out index of 8.90s.

First sighting run, straight off the trailer, so to speak:

8.35s @ 163mph - a new European record for an aircooled VW.

Second run: Lots of wheelspin meant Richie backed off and pulled the shoot early - resulting in an 8.905s @ 121mph and Number 1 qualifying spot!

Saturday was a case of deja vu all over again. Up, up and away...

Just like the good old days.

Sunday rolled around and it was Eliminations round 1.

 

8.206s @ 167.9mph - a new, new European record for an aircooled VW and elimination from competition - oh well.

Congrats to Richie and the team - a 7sec run beckons...

That Good Friday Feeling

This year Easter is one week after Big Bang which means Surrey Street Rodders' Wheels Day, and it's at a new location. After many years at the MOD site in Aldershot the show has moved to Dunsfold Aerodrome near Guildford - home of that pokey lil TV show...

The 2 golden rules still apply:

No Burnouts

No Dogs

Entry is £5 adults - OAPs/kids go free

Gates open 10am

SatNavs aim for GU6 8HY or GU6 8TB (2 entrance gates)

Approx 90mins from Bicester or 75mins from St Albans

Wheels Day 2013

Big Bang

Next weekend sees the first proper weekend show of the year, Big Bang at Santa Pod.

The show has been brought forward this year, hopefully avoiding the arctic winter conditions of previous years. Featuring all the usual guff: VW only RWYB (on Saturday), Drag racing from the Outlaw Anglias, 8.50 & 9.50 Bikes, Sportsman ET and the Jap Drag series. If that's too much action for you then the VWDRC and Junior Dragsters (be warned, currently standing at 24 entries) will still your beating hearts, or give you time to visit the bogs or food vans without missing any action.

Also on the bill is the Rust & Rat (Sat) and Show & Shine (Sun), Circus, Kids' entertainment, hypnotist, handling course, Off Road course, Crazy Golf, blah blah blah.

Evening entertainment features a bunch of mainly disappointing "comedy" DJs and tribute acts, Friday evening is your best chance of a decent night evening out.

Tickets are £45 on the gate (kids under 16 go free)

Coming up...

This weekend is the VolksWorld indoor show at Sandown Park racecourse in Surrey.

Since the Slough Swapmeet attendance numbers have fallen in recent years, Sandown Park is the year's prime opportunity to shuffle around an overfull building not quite able to see the cars/parts on display. As an added bonus there's the chance to get smacked in the face by a rucksack or banged ankles courtesy of oblivious push chair drivers.

Top show features include the Meguiar's Top 20, Club displays, Live music, Bug Stuff, the un-official 'My car is rattier than yours' challenge, Tech seminar, and special guest Bruce Meyers.

Tickets:

Adults £15/day
Kids (6-15) £4.25
Kids under 6 go free

Camping passes are sold out.

Sandown Park is in Esher, Surrey. To find simply go to the A3 / A244 Esher junction and join the queue.

What's Going On?

Strange things are afoot in Lo 'E' Nuf. After 2 decades of deliberate abject idleness there is a whirlwind of activity as people, wait for it, work on their cars!

Firstly ginga was so near to registering his '58 that he's had to put it back into storage and start on someone else's.

Next, Ross who decided that although owning a T4 was a good thing, seeing it sit forlornly on his front lawn was a bit galling. The solution? A weekend at Chez Ginga and a blitz on the van.

First up, the mechanical bits - new rad, free off the seized rear drum, and fix the diesel leak. This was followed by the important stuff - new lights, alloy wheels, badgeless grill etc and a colour change to 'gongsta' Satin Black.

Getting there
It's now back at Blenheim Palace getting a full luxury interior installed.

Next up is Ellie's Angel which Alex has finished painting and is now in ginga's garage for the re-fit.

Windows going in, thanks to Pollock for the help

Recon engine waiting to go in

The current 1ep motor

Meanwhile, at the Birkshop, Dan is having his Splitty receive the Cris Touch, digging out and repairing all the surprises whilst Dom does the mechanical stuff. That leaves Dan to cover the important things, like making the steering box and dizzy look pretty and choosing wheels.

Greg is having his garden shed camper brought back to life. It has all the usual Bay Window rusty bits so Cris is diving in head first.

And across the workshop is Howard, starting his Splitty resto by polishing the window frames!

Howard also remembered he actually owns a Beetle and put some hours into that.

 Replacing the beam bearings and bushes

Left: How they go in
Right: How they come out!

At this rate we'll be driving aircooleds to meets and shows again. Must be something in the water...

They Broke My Watch!

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in America...

Their National Historic Vehicle Register has announced that Bruce Meyer's Old Red, the 'original' Beach Buggy, will be the second vehicle on its books after the Shelby Daytona Coupe.

First produced as a monocoque in 1964 it quickly spawned an entire industry of bath tub on floorpan fun cars as well inspiring the Mexico/Baja 1000 off-road race.

Taking The P

Coming up...

Sunday 16th February

Gates open 9am

Or (if you're desperate to ditch the mrs) camping available on Saturday

Tickets: £10/adult

(kids under 16: free)
Camping: £5/vehicle

All the usual guff: Traders, Autojumble, Show & Shine, cars for sale, charity auction and the infamous, truly awful, extortionate, onsite catering