::: GTi International One - 2001::: 

GTI International 2004 

The day that most Dub nuts wait all winter for finally arrived, with the onset of the UK's show scene being marked by the premier UK VW show, GTi International. For most like-minded enthusiasts it is the culmination of many month's hard graft and a lot of dedicated polishing, with people polishing bits of their cars that most normal people did not know existed. As always, the weather was awesome and the turnout predictably high. Dan and myself went on the Saturday and can report on a fantastic day. Despite being there at the crack of dawn we still queued to get in with the organisers being painfully slow at processing the arrivals. This confounded the fact that my car developed a serious missfire during the journey and ended up being pushed into the car park (Oooops!).

The quality of cars was spot on and particular mention should go to the PVS crew who had on display some of the coolest and most immaculate cars I have ever seen. Also worth a mention was the Grant motorsport Mk 1 which sported a rather cool gold paint job and full race-car re build. Sadly, as seems to be the case each year, the quality of the cars from the Dutch boys (and girls) took the scene to another level with some awesome motors being driven over from the continent to show us Brits up. There were the usual show bargains to be snapped up and the tyre testing and sprint were as popular as ever (no change there then!).

It seemed that Saturday threw down a curse to the white car brigade (myself included) with the white VW Sport Mk 1 dropping a cog (all 5 actually) all over the tyre testing track. Much respect was due though as the boys managed to refit a new box and get the car mobile again in time to blast round the course before it closed. Another White Mk 1 completely conked out half way down the strip and much to the owners embarrassment had to be rescued by the Volvo (pardon my language) course car. My car then completed the white hatrick (or should that be craptrick) by lurching down the strip twice with a chronic missfire which I figured was telling me something and so abandoned my last run. The problem was traced to a burnt out king lead which was replaced so now the car goes like stink, albeit a day too late. Dan had rather more success down the strip and posted some swift times at the expense of his poor tyres. Both of us had joined weight watchers by removing the stereos, spare wheel and anything else that threatened to hold the cars back. Dan "one up-manship" Mohacek took it one stage further, however, by ripping out his headlamp in an attempt to force more air into his engine.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, and reckon that they give a good flavour of what to expect from the upcoming show season. Next stop Santa Pod for the GTi Festival!

Simon...

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