 VolksWorld Show 2011
Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey,
26-27 March 2011
When you walk into the main entrance of Sandown Park the plan is to ensure our visitors are greeted by the most professional VW event we can possibly give you. It’s our chance to bring VolksWorld Magazine to life and to showcase the best new Volkswagens to hit the scene. Although not the first event of the year, it is the first big event and we take great pride in making sure our visitors leave having had a great time.
Show Cars
Special thanks must go to the show car owners and club members who put in a massive amount of work leading up to the show. The hours that have gone into building the cars beggars belief, and we never lose sight of the phenomenal achievements of these people. The level of detail just seems to get deeper every year. Trust us when we say that we were blown away by the quality of the cars that turned up.
We pick the cars for the show based on a few photographs, often of uncompleted cars, so have to make educated decisions on the cars, this year we were totally stoked when we finally got the show laid out and everything in place at 2.00am on Saturday morning. One thing was certain, the judges were going to have their work cut out. At this stage we really have to thank the judges personally for their work. It’s often overlooked, but not this time!
The results of the awards can be seen listed below, but we can tell you this was the hardest event to judge we have ever had, and we had seven cars that scored very highly and would have walked Best of Show at any other event. These included Jonathan Grigg’s ‘No Compromise’ Drag Bug, Richard Krom’s Resto Cal Oval ragtop, Martin Fenner’s Resto Cal Oval Cabrio, Simon Fox’s Squareback, Mark Dryden’s Manxter Buggy, Colin Nichol’s turbo’d Split Bus and Boris Schmidt’s Squareback. In the end the clear winner was Peter Köhmann’s Razoredge Ghia, which judge Gavin Jones scored 99 points out of 100 – the highest scoring car we have ever had at the show! It was fitting perhaps that the only Type 3 ever to win the big trophy was this year as it’s a special year for these particular VWs.
Type 3 at 50
With 2011 being the 50th anniversary of the Type 3’s introduction, we put on a special display to celebrate this landmark. This included three of the best Type 3s we could find on a turntable, along with promotional material and classic film footage of the Type 3 being played throughout the weekend.
Outside, as usual, we had a large array of VW club stands and registers, and the Karmann Ghia owners’ club put on another Type 3 display, with a line up of Razoredge Ghias. Perhaps the most talked about club this year was New Waves – the local lads who really make an effort and this year pushed the boat out further still with an old school BMX concours and a classic scooter show, with some amazing Vespas and Lambrettas on display. They also had DJs and live bands playing in their open-to-all marquee throughout the weekend. The other club that really put on a great show was the Southern Dune Buggy Club who built a complete Doon Beach Buggy from components in the main foyer over the course of the weekend.
After all the months of hard work the event is all to soon over and the clearing up begins and we head back to our Croydon headquarters for a well earned cup of tea.
Awards
Top 20 Awards
Paul Wilcock (England) - Le Grand Special Edition US Market 1303 (Metallic Blue)
Horst Grubelnik (Germany) - 1951 CCG Split Window Beetle (Army Green)
Chris Lincoln (England) - 1954 RHD Ragtop Cal Look Bug (Dark Red)
Mark Dryden (England) - Meyers Manxter with Subaru power (Yellow)
Karl Hurrell (England) - Full Custom Bug with suicide doors (Turquoise)
Richard Krom (Holland) - 1955 Ragtop Resto Cal Oval (Ultra Maroon)
Heydon Mizon (England) - 1967 Cal Look Bug (Black)
Neil Reed (England) - Bay Window Custom (Metallic Blue)
Tom Brinker (Germany) - ‘Wolfsburg Sunset' Drag Race Bug (Red)
Johnny Grigg (England) - ‘No Compromise' Drag Bug (Yellow with flames)
Alex John (England) - 1966 turbo/EFI Bug (Grey)
Colin Nicholl (Scotland) - Split Screen Camper turbo engine/air ride (Brown and White)
Sven Lawitska (Germany) - Drag Race Bug (White)
Andy Holmes (England) - 1962 Type 34 Karmann Ghia (Black)
Boris Schmidt (Germany) - Type 3 Squareback (Red)
Laurence Downer (England) - Empi Imp Beach Buggy (Orange)
Alan Jewell (England) - 1963 1500N Notchback (Gulf Blue)
Peter Köhmann (Germany) - Custom & Speed Parts Type 34 racer
Martin Fenner (England) - RHD Oval Cabriolet (Blue)
Simon Fox (England) - 1963 Type 3 Squareback (Grey with black roof)
Best of Show 2011
Peter Köhmann (Germany) - Custom & Speed Parts Type 34 racer
Special Award: Owen Ritchie.11 year old owner of red 1967 Cal Look Bug. Scotland
Prosign Award: Mario Steinhauser. Type 3 Notchback. Germany
EBI Award: Neil and Many Melliard, Prosign Bus. England
‘Best Outsider' Presented by VW Heritage and Terry's Beetle Service for the best car in the car park: Steve Tansey. 1963 Riviera Camper Turkis Green
Best Club: Southern Dune Buggy Club
Visitors Choice: Martin Fenner. RHD Oval Karmann Cabriolet
Article and graphic © VolksWorld - reproduced with permission |
