A little report from the last weekend’s Golf Mk2 Owners Meeting in Cubronborough Sprint Course.
The general plan for the weekend:
Friday afternoon – settle down, friendly chat with other VW owners
Saturday – Only mk2s track day
Sunday – All VWs track day plus Show’n’Shine
Friday morning started calmly but escalated very quickly to a hectic rush to have everything done before we (family of three – two vdub mad parents plus one Little Tinker) could set off.
Turned out that a simple brake pads swap can be very challenging when you discover the 7 mm allan key is missing in the toolbox! On the bright side packing with 2-years old is a breeze when you have two golf’s mk2 sizeable/ample boots. It’s quite amazing how much more space an average mk2’s got compared to many modern cars! Any Renault Twingo/Mercedes Cls owners reading this?
After 10 am we hit the road. BBM on the leading with Monkey behind the steering wheel, and the Red Rescue drove by my humble person plus a Little Tinker in the back seat. The first stop we planned was in the Service Area, where we joined another two mk2s, Tim’s Jetta (hello golf mk2 channel) and Shelly in the van. After a brief chat, we set off to our final destination – Cubronborough Sprint Course. Well done Monkey for taking the leading position!
Driving in the convoy always brings a smile to my face. Seeing so many awesome vdubs in the wing mirror is quite an experience.
But back to the main story – a big part of our 1.5h journey we drove in slow-moving traffic. But that doesn’t mean we hadn’t had any adventures! Chris scratched the wing mirror in his Rallye and Shelly made a wrong turn (I’ve nearly done the same!), but we all arrived happily at the camp field. As the regular track day was in progress we had also a brief opportunity to see some track action too.
So, the weather was kind for us this weekend with temperatures between 19 and 23 Celsius degrees in the daytime and the sky mostly overcast, but mainly dry, just a bit of drizzle on Saturday night.
So, the dry and warm weather was just right for some mk2 track action. The briefing was bright and early just after 8 am. With some nice hand-drawing of the track by Mat. This year’s improvements were a nice checked flag stamped on your wrist once you come to the briefing plus two cones with the ‘Get in the first gear’ plate, right next to the little straight leading back to the paddock. Thanks that the driver waiting impatiently for his/her turn could go slightly earlier, while the previous person went through the little ‘cone gates’.
Also, instead of waiting in the line with the car idling, there were just three vehicles at the start line at the same time. These little changes improved the general flow and with more time to cool off the engine, there was less downtime on the track in general. Actually, the morning went so smoothly that there were no incidents at all! However, after the lunch break one of mk2s blow off the head gasket leaving the spillage across the track, and despite a good 30 min scrub of the tarmac the next driver nearly span around on the very same corner! So, there was more cleaning to follow.
On Saturday afternoon after the last driver left the track we carried on with our yearly tradition of a Parade Lap. Every owner took their car on the track and we all (including the youngest ones) had some slow-mo fun honing around, beeping, shouting, revving, and having lots of fun taking pictures, videos and watching flying drones filming everything from the air. Check it out here:
Link
Sunday morning on the track started later as we weren’t allowed to start until 10 am due to noise levels. This time in addition to mk2 other VW was allowed to join. So, bar the golfs there has been TT,
Well done Ben and the team, who managed to put the new head gasket in the middle of the field, so the golf was running just a few hours later.
Show’n’shine had 5? different categories: gti, non-gti, modified, carbs, other VWs. Congratulations to all winners! And if you want to see more details go here
We had an extra pair of hands that help us clean the Red Rescue ready for Show’n’Shine.
The camping is getting better every year. Two showers with their own generator, nearby the tents were one of these great improvements. Plus, a brand-new block with loos.
And here’s the best patent for a quick and always dry stay in your super cool mk2 roof tent!
How a great meeting with lots of mk2s can be improved? A food truck and a mobile drink bar! Hog roast has always been uber tasty with generous portions of meat and gravy plus some salad and tomatoes to top up your tea.
A mobile bar was this year’s novelty. I can highly recommend mojitos (virgin and alcoholic). The guy was prepared for every kind of weather with a nice gazebo covering the bar and its customers. Extra points for the creative setup using old wine barrels as a counter-top holder.
I’m glad that year after year we’ve got more brave ladies to drive on the track.
It was great to see more brave ladies venturing on the track actually behind the wheel, not just on the passenger seat. Just to give you a brief idea – for the first couple of years while the event was moved to Cubronborough I was the only female track driver during the whole weekend, while this year it was four of us!
Special credits for all the effort for organizers, who did excellent work behind the scenes and all these mundane tasks like briefings, time checking, marshalling around the track, setting up show and shine, and waiting at the gates to direct everyone, so we all could just arrive and enjoy the weekend.
Also, a word of acknowledgement for companies being directly involved as Trackslag, Boosters, Paul’s Pints, Hog roast catering company. Without you, this event wouldn’t be the same!
After the last two years with Covid in the mix and being unable to go and see people creating our mk2 community and all these awesome cars this year was even more special. Let’s see what Vag enthusiasts thought about this year’s post-panademic edition.
Here are some post show comments:
“Blown away with winning the best modified which I’m very grateful for and was very surprised with. Was great to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones! “ Dan Burden
“Cracking day at the national meet today, first time tracking the car and she never let me down so I’m well happy. Thanks to the organisers for putting on the event it was a blast!” Warren Bradley
So, do you want to join us the next year? Or do you want to tell us about what was your favourite part of the mk2 oc meeting? Please let me know in the comments below!
