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It might not be on the same scale as International, but the GTI Festival still kicks ass...
especially with the nation's finest quarter mile to play on.

We gave up another weekend of TV and Lie-ins to race up Santa Pod's famous drag strip and check out this year's GTI Festival. To be honest, after attending Le Mans and Stonor Park, we were knackered. In the name of Dubspotting, however, we couldn't resist the pull of the GTI Festival.

On our journey to the Pod, we did the usual 'GTI spotting' and were well chuffed to see tons of Mk1s blatting round the bendy bits - excellent stuff. Are we sad, or do you all get a tingly feeling approaching a show, seeing and hearing GTIs flying about?

For those who've not been to Santa Pod before, why not? Put it on your list of things to do, reasons why will be revealed as we ramble on.

The Pod is primarily a drag strip, not a show ground. It's a pure, unadulterated, high octane, that-blokes-a-nutter drag strip. However, come mid-June the strip comes alive to the sound of hot hatch heaven. Let's have it!

After grabbing an obligatory Sunday morning bacon sandwich (extra greasy show special, of course) we decided to take in the sights, sounds and smells this unique venue has to offer.

It was still early, but you could see the day had promise, especially in the scantily-clad female department. Big thanks from us here at PVW to all those lovely ladies who compete to wear as little as possible and make these events so much more fun (we're not worthy).

Right you wanna hear about the cars? Fist thing we heard approaching the strip was 'vroom, tish, vroom, tish' getting louder and closer. With an air of expectation, we jumped round expecting the Dubsport Mk3 or summat but, no - instead, we were greeted by the smiling face of Jeff Seddon of alloy specialist, All Seddon Dome, in his nutty Mk3 Polo. It transpires he's only gone and recorded the sounds of Mk3 off the internet and is playing them though his sound system… and we thought we were sad!

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There were all the usual suspects at the trade stand end, including bargains galore. Something new this year included text message announcement for traders, allowing you to text the organisers so that your message can then be read out on the PA - neat!

On the concours side, well, what can you say, these boys were out polishing and licking their cars clean all day, despite the dust - respect to you! With so many new and innovative cars around, it looked like you were living in a copy of PVW! All Our old favourites were there (ok, less of the old) - the Dub'olox boys, Premier, good-old Arthur Lofts and many more.

Moving over to the track, Santa Pod provides the best atmosphere for drag racing and, as you can see from the results table, those times just get quicker every year. As always, Ian Birch was a man on a mission, determined to put an a show for the flock of fan gathered around the strip. PVW wasn't scared, though, and went head to head in Project Buss Box on its debut strip outing. Next time, guys, next time!

We'd love to see all you top tuners out there - Dubsport, Dahlback Racing, Awesome, Jeroen Dik, Abt - all together, at the same track, all slugging it out! Bring it on! However, even these legends were eclipsed by the Firestorm rocket car we witnessed. That thing was incredible. It hit nearly 200mph and the noise of it shattered three windows in the commentators' tower! Amazing. So, if you did miss out this year, don't let it happen again. This show rivals any other on the calendar, mark our words.

Words: Simon Dobson, Photos: Max Earey
Source: VW Performance, issue 9/2000, page 24ff