VW Action 30th Birthday Bash – Uttoxeter Race Course Hot, hot, hot would sums up this event! Held over a weekend with overnight camping and ‘school disco’ to keep the adults amused during the night, the heat wave should have had traders and visitors flocking to the show in droves. Unfortunately the event, as others have been this season, was quiet by normal standards. Several members of the Derby region made the trip over on the Sunday to meet Darren Marshall who had gone back to nature and camped over with his lovely wife Rachel the day before. When we arrived we split up – me to the concours with the MkII and the rest of the lads to the parking area. Once parked up I cracked on with the ritual of cleaning an already clean car from top to bottom ready for the judges. The heat was amazing and I had already downed a bottle of water by the time the rest of the guys found me and started to poke fun at their very hot and bothered regional host who (in the words of Chris Pratt) was getting ‘more sweat than polish’ on the car. The task of cleaning was made a little easier thanks to the chilled summer sounds coming from the resident DJ. Eventually Darren and Rachel found us and I was really pleased to hear that their stunning and original MkI GTI had taken one of the ‘Top 10’ Show and Shine awards the day before. The judges have ten awards to give away and pick from all models of VAG cars including air and water-cooled so it’s a real result that Darren won at a predominantly air-cooled show. Once my car was clean I had a wander around the show with the guys but had soon covered everything. The others found that several trips round the stalls revealed no more than a retro badge for Matt Holt and once the show cars had been viewed and the on-site bar sampled there was nothing left but to head home early in the afternoon. I stayed on for the results of the competition and could feel myself crisping up nicely in the heat (there were some very red people about) whilst trying to find some shade as I waited for the presentation. The wait was worth it as besides the radiation burns form the relentless sun I collected one of the ‘Top 10’ Concours awards on the Sunday – so with Darren’s award this was a very successful event for the region!
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