GTI Spring festival - Santa Pod - March 29th 2009

Hiya guys n gals

Here’s our official blurb


GTI SPRING FESTIVAL Santa Pod Raceway, Wellingborough, Northants. NN29 7XA.Sunday 29th March 2009

www.vwaction.co.uk



The long winter lay off, last year’s weather, the economy... there has never been more reasons to blow away the winter cobwebs, give the recession the finger, and get your ass to Santa Pod Raceway for the GTI Spring Festival.

This year is set to defy the economic trend, and just like every year before see record numbers of visitors. On the track, in the Show & Shine, and most of all, the Club Displays, the numbers just keep on increasing.

The 2009 GTI Spring Festival is the show to showcase your club and attract new members. The 'GTI Spring Festival' is the 'Season Opener' amongst the major water cooled VW shows. It already exceeds the visitor numbers of the July 'GTI Summer Festival', which has been running for over 15 years! With Sprinting, Show & Shine, Clubs, Autojumble and Traders, it follows a simple formula... arrive, have fun, and go home.

If you don’t run on the dragstrip yourself, you can relax and watch cars really being put through their paces at a facility purpose built to show them off. What better place to really appreciate James Hodson’s Golf for example. James regularly clocks mid 10 second quarter mile times at over 130mph, in his fully street legal, and street driven Golf. If at the 2009 event you see a Scirocco stage alongside James, it might just be Paul Jordan, in his 4WD Scirocco Storm, also capable of mid 10 second runs. If these cars, which can outgun most ‘supercars’, are just not quick enough for you, there’s always the Fireforce team. The Fireforce Jet Funny Car will be the one vehicle guaranteed to have most of the audience rushing track side the second it fires up for each demonstration pass, which is likely to be in the region of very low 6 second elapsed time and 300mph terminal speeds!

The show itself offers all day sprinting for a single signing on fee, which is hugely popular. But don’t forget your driving licence (you cannot sign on for sprinting without it). The early season event sees many personal bests, which may be down to a combination of the 'track bite' glue sprayed on to the Santa Pod quarter-mile, and the very good air quality at this time of year. The timing equipment is accurate to within less than one thousandth of a second. The overall formula for this show is very simple, the major elements being the activity on the dragstrip and the Show & Shine.

The Show & Shine is one of the best in the country, with in the region of 100 contestants. There is no charge for entry into the Show & Shine, and it is becoming a popular show at which to debut new or revamped cars after the winter lay off. Gates open at 8.00am with the sprint track open from 10.00am. There is plenty of opportunity to browse trade stands, check out the autojumble and club displays, as well as watch (or even try a few runs on) the dragstrip. Overseas visitors to the show will receive free admission on production of their ferry tickets/proof of travel, so perhaps we will see a few more European visitors this year.