I don't want to rubbish Club VeeDub coz I understand, more than most, how much work it takes to organize a public event like Sunday's Nats. I am very grateful for their decades of dedication in putting on the event at great cost time-wise to all the organizers. Thank you guys for your work.
However, I dragged my 5 and 7yo round for an hour and a half and by the end of their ice creams (10 minutes in), they were saying, "this is boring". Now I got some nice pics, but basically, I had to agree with them.
Muchos respect to the show crowd, but I think we need some real action. Now I don't just want to whine and whinge coz that is no help to anyone, so I have a solution proposed....
I propose a Combo of the Show and the Track day at Wakefield. I know that means it's a little harder to get to, but it would mean more action. A lot more action. You could even run 8th mile sprints in the middle of the day if you liked.
It's also a little closer for the Melbourne and Canberra people and it means helping a regional economy, ie. Goulburn.
Anyway, it's just my 2c. Feel free to take it as you will.
But again, as I said at the beginning, thank you Club VeeDub for your work so far.
find a location that can accomodate everything at once & doesnt cost the earth & everyone would love to know about it.
hell find me one in south east qld & the drivers club action day later in the year could get something to justify the name 👍
-its up to individual tastes of spectators & the efforts of entrants & trade/swap stands to create appeal aswell, if nothing is grabbing your interest & keeping it then your always going to be bored, such is life
i chat to people ive gotten to know through the forums/other meets, keeps the day interesting
your not the only one that thinks along the same lines either & there is a push to make something like that happen 🙂
oh and what about the people that come from the north? goulburn is further than fairfield 😂
Volkswagen Drivers Club of Queensland - member 🙂
STIDUB - yep its still a work in progress
Vwdcq club car racing/ and crashing while my bug isn't finished.
The above are personal views, no more, no less
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
The EVO nats on the weekend was at Eastern creek raceway and it worked well for a "combo" event. There was the car show, skidpan and supersprints all at the same time on Saturday, Saturday night was a dinner and then Sunday was the hillclimb down at Huntley.
Each year it is held in a different state (last year VIC) and its now building momentum amongst the EVO crowd as a "dont miss" event.
Would be good to have a VW event with the same format.😎
There is plenty of room for everyone at Wakefield and it has more of that "oldschool feel" to it. But really, as you say, you could run it at Eastern Ck just as easily I guess.
As I said before, I don't want to rubbish a show per se, but when you've been to something like the tasman revival and got to wander around in between race/display cars while watching others race, it makes for a much more interesting day.
P.s. If they were interested in running at Eastern ck and needed a CAMS affiliated club to run a motorkhana on the skidpan, I'm sure my club, CACA Nsw would be more than happy to help out.
as you say, you could run it at Eastern Ck just as easily I guess.
I luv all the x perts could u afford to hire Eastern
Creek we will have to increase the Swap meet fees
why would we need another car club to run something ??? as we are CAMS affilated
I guess I was just offering to help you guys. CACA runs a lot of motorkhanas at Eastern Ck and other places. I know the committee would be glad to be involved in that way as there are a number of VW owners/ex-owners in the club.
Would it be helpful if I wrote a letter to the committee of the club veedub by way of doing things officially?
yes many thanks much appreciated please send us a letter
The logistics of running the whole show at Wakefeild would be too much and we would NOT get the every day VW crowd thats pays through the gate that funds the show
if you have every costed out Eastern Creek then you will know thats out of the question
Ive been doing this for 24 years now and the venue is perfect cost, logistical, weather and size wise
vw54 wrote:Ive been doing this for 24 years now and the venue is perfect cost, logistical, weather and size wise
yes a one day show in the pouring rain would be disasterous.......in fact one rainy weekend a few years back, we decided to do the down and back 1000km run for something to do, knowing the event was undercover.
an organised cruise from Sydney to Gouldburn might be the go to get more "non" racers down there for the spectacle....but yeah looked like plenty to see at Fairfield, might not fill in a whole day, but what kids last that long anyways
Well done CLUB VW again! huge job, great effort by the volunteers to keep the show and club going !
you don't need a fast beetle or be a race car driver. Just get out there in your road registered beetle no matter how fast it goes it's heaps of fun.
vwmad wrote:I thought it was a great day i never had time to get bored,plus not everyone is into track racing😉
But if i had a fast beetle i might change my mind😂
It's a great weekend. And yes it would be good to have it all together but that's just to difficult.
We just need more vw enthusiast to get in there and support their club and events that are organised as one day they may not be there to go to with out the support.
I think feedback is good and healthy for any event. I missed wakefield this year but enjoyed the show and shine. I did feel the PA system was up way too high and was drowning out conversations.
Not sure but the cars didnt seem to be displayed in their class? or maybe they were and i didnt notice but seemed to be a little disorganised
I have a read about a few events in USA that run for 3 days, Maybe a dinner on the Friday night at a local restaurant where everyone can bring there cars on the night.
Another suggestion is maybe having an area outside the show in the carpark allocated specifically for VW's. not all of us feel we can compete so having all the Vw's parked together would add to the event.
All in all its the weekend i look forward too, congrats to the organisers i thought their was na excellent crowd
VDU.88A wrote:24 years and still going. Don't fix what isn't broken.
I don't think it's a matter of fixing what's broken as much as moving with the times. 24 years ago was 1987. Things have changed a lot. I'm just not sure the structure of the show reflects an age that is dominated by the web, mobiles and ACVWs as non-daily drivers.
Someone made a comment about clubs getting out there. How many clubs are actually left now. I suspect not many.
If the show is as good as you say, should it stay the same for the next quarter of a century? I don't think so. The nature of the scene has changed and it will continue to change. We need to find ways to lead the scene rather than just pretending it won't change.
Again, muchos respect to the hard working organisers, but I think a big review would be helpful.
One thing i recon they should change is the volume of the PA during the day. Down a couple of notches then up a couple of notches when their handing out tropheys couldnt hear the bloke saying peoples names.
Maybe tell people what car their winning for, maybe he did and i didnt hear it.
Either way i always enjoy the veedub show and always hang for it so cheers to keeping it happening
Alex
all in all its a good day, i know alot of people simply dont come as they dont want to line up to be judged. maybe a bikini contest would make it more exciting Pete?😉
or maybe an oompah band and beer garden....that would be great.
One of the other gripes i hear is that its the 'nationals' and should alternate between the major cities, that would take a team effort between various clubs around the country...as there is already the dovw, maybe the name 'nationals' is not appropriate?
At the end of the day i had fun, got out, looked at cars, bought junk and had a hot dog. Its up to the owners of all the vw's out there to get them out of the garage, if numbers were greater maybe it would be more 'exciting'. the club can only work with what theyve got...
Couldn't be happier with the Nationals run at fairfield. I'd be very happy to attend for the next 24 years. It's a great venue and location. Well done Club Vee Dub.
Thats not rust, it's ah ... orange primer ... yep that's what it is ...
I went to the nationals, and as always, was blown away with the insane level of detail, time, and $$$ that has gone into a lot of these cars. I always leave feeling overwhelmed with more VW images than I can absorb in one day.
I have lots of respect for all those who organise it, but one thing that always amazes & frustrates me, is how many incredible VW's end up outside in the carpark.
Now there are lots of reasons people don't want to drive these cars in (me included) Some of the reasons I can think of is, they don't want to have to be judged, they can't stay the whole day, they don't think the cost difference between attending and showing is worth it, They've shown the car for many years previously etc etc...
I would like to see an area set aside for VW parking only, for those who want to be at the show with their VW's, without having to feel like they need to have the car judged, have to stay the whole day etc.
I can't believe organisers don't realise how much better the show would be, by making this another feature of the show. These cars (many of which are daily drivers) are even more appealing in many ways, in that they are more in touch with the common VW guy or girl than a $50,000-$100,000+ showcar. And the organizers shouldn't need to charge extra, because these grassroots cars will end up attracting more through the gate, which will end up giving them more revenue.
Just my two cents worth, and only my opinion, I'm probably wrong or missing out on some logistical challenge I haven't thought of.
Dave well said having an area for the daily drivers makes total sense it would also save time at the judging im sure a lot of the cars in the line up wernt chasing trophies just wanted to be inside. I decided not to wait so that i could get to the swap meet bargains asap so ended up parked outside. I heard some people took close to 2 hours to get inside. An entry fee would still be fine. I don't think its a hard thing to sort for next year? Apart from that it was a great day but a small change would make a huge difference id say get all those car park cars inside or together. And more fuel in that engine blow did it even blow up i reckon she was out of fuel Amazing Cheers Ev
What about one side of the carpark dedicated to just VWs? might have to park them one space apart so people dont scratch etc. But like others, there are so many good cars outside, and myself being young and not owning a flash VW. its not worth entering it into the judging knowing that it wont win, and thats probably a big thing for most of the other dub drivers. Having the bigger side of the carpark VWs only would make it more appealing for others to come.
I didn't hang around long, met up with people previous and new faces. but other than having a chat and doing a lap of the cars and swap/trade stands. there is not much else to do.
It still was a great nationals, just a few ideas that I had.
We had a lovely weekend we left Newcastle Fri lunch time with a 4 hr drive to Goulburn.
Meet up with a nice bunch of people at the track where the cabins are to stay over night. Then we all went out for tea at the Paragon at Goulburn for a nice meal and chin wag and talk racing n vw crap lol.
Then back to the track accommodation to have a gas bag in the cozy warm cabin while watching the footy.
Up early Sat morning to be greeted by a great frosty morning weather was perfect after the ice cleared off the cars.
Time to hit the track for a day filled of racing and chatting about racing techniques.
Rose got to go out as the lead car for the first timers to follow around the track for a few laps with Rudy as the navigator he gave her some good tips for the racing at Wakefield.
Had a heap of laps around 20 odd.
Then back to Newcastle 4 hour drive to swap over bugs, have a sleep then up at 5am to take the drag racing bug back down to the Nats on Sun.
Enter the car in the show n shine. Had a look around had lunch talked to heaps of people about the Nude drag racing bug. Had a look around swap meet. Had some fairy floss.
Left after trophies presentation for a 2 hr drive home.
We had a great VW weekend away. Cant wait till the next one.
Who's going to Sawtell Winter Break
😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
