Approaching a VW Show is always a buzz. On the 30^th of August 2024, our bog-standard family wagon slipped neatly into a convoy of modified air and water-cooled VWs as we meandered through the country roads around Poddington. A sense of pride flowed through me as one child described to another what a swamp cooler on the side of a cal-look Beetle was for, and how it’s cool in more than one sense of the word.

We hit a hard left into Santa Pod and trundled to our pre-booked pitch, with the flags flying high and festival vibes creating excitement for all who decided to hang out at the world’s longest-running weekend show, VW Action.

Club Camping

Campers parked, tents pitched, the family-orientated show allowed for a flock of enthusiasts to roam freely viewing awesome club pitches from VWCaddy.com, Rust Dub Klub, and MKBBDC’s awesome display of what seemed to be Boxster Ss with 356 conversion kits. All conversions looked to be completed to concourse standard.

The Club Camping area is a show within itself, with many clubs adorning the fields and willingly happy to discuss the trials and tribulations attributed to our VW passion.

Drag Racers and Jet Cars

Friday continued with a walk around the pits, where we got up close to the teams hoping for sunny spells and a sticky dragstrip. Oklahoma Willy appeared to steal the limelight, as your eyes are always going to be drawn to a 5000bhp split single cab with a jet engine strapped to the bed. This build calculates itself with airspeed. With the engine reportingly guzzling 8.3 gallons of Jet-A1 per minute, screams of excitement were heard in anticipation of its planned racing on Saturday.

Cooking on Gas’s air-cooled 1303 Volksrod/funny car looked great, backed up by its heritage in motorsport. The European VW influence continued with XQ Motorsports insane MK1 Golf TDI, a turbo mounted outside of a bonnet screams power, and they didn’t disappoint. Spoiler, they pulled an 8.84 second quarter-mile on Saturday making their trip from Portugal worth every mile.

An obligatory visit to the Fun Fair followed by live music in Fuelers Bar and the Main Event Tent rounded off an excellent Friday and set us up for the weekend left to come.

Breakfast and Burnouts

Saturday morning dawn broke with the smell of thousands of people cooking a traditional English breakfast. Laughter filled the air followed by the familiar ‘BAAAWWW BAAAAWWW’ of cars and vans completing burnouts, staging then racing.

Although the Trader section seemed to be smaller than in previous years, you could still find a choice of VW apparel, a wide mix of air and water-cooled parts and a selection of great food stalls. As ever, Claire and Andy represented our Club, holding a trader stall adorned with licensed VW merch promoting the Club. Their efforts allowed the Club to gain several new members and allowed the longest-running VW Club to be seemingly matched with the longevity of VW Action.

Our chairs placed at the optimum spot on the banking overlooked the festival and allowed a great view of the Burnout Box, the Tree, and the Finish Line, creating a great view for the RWYB. There’s something very amusing about an Audi S4 being chased by a 1302 with a Stinger Exhaust. Although the Beetle was in tow for the win, the gap was surprisingly small.

Entertainment for Everyone

VW Action caters for all. Team Maximum Lock drifted around the Live Action Arena, weaving their R34 between their 350Zs, they warmed the tarmac up for a Monster Truck that smashed into cars, then gained air like Tony Hawk.

The Action Olympics is an old club favourite, with events consisting of completing an inflatable assault course, football darts, a VW bug push and tug of war. Continuing with the family approach, we entered a children’s team for the first two events, only to swap the nimble children for injury-strewn adults, in the hope of gaining the competitive edge for the bug push and tug of war.

No first place this year for us, however, all participants laughed continually, and we all walked away with a medal.

As the RWYB continued in the background, the Concours event left me drooling with every era of VW seemingly represented. Slambassador’s air ride VW Crafter had a consistent crowd, the company’s name offers an accurate description.

Night Racing

Saturday evening brought the RWYB to a close with the night racing shoot-off. Here racers competed for an impressive £2000 prize pot. The evening even starred an epic jet car run from Oklahoma Willy.

The night continued with live music, and fairground rides once again. For those that partied too hard on Friday, logs burned around a campfire with laughter filling the skies.

The fun-filled festivities continued again on Sunday with an almost repeat of Saturday’s actions (post-camp collapse of course!) allowing for a second chance to view any missed elements.

Next Year?

With the VWOCGB membership base ever-expanding, what would you say to a club party next year at VW Action? Keep your eyes peeled on ClubNews in the New Year when we release next year’s show dates.

Words: Nicholas Maloney
Photos: Andy Hayward