The opportunity arose out of the misfortunes of my fallen brethrens. Ben Chandler of FastCar fame needed a wingman for his magazine coverage of the Dutch MIVW show, with Ryan away to the South of France and James also making his annual pilgrimage to St Ives I was 3rd on the list. And I’m fine with that. There I was, sat at work on a quiet Saturday morning, excited to be riding shotgun to Leiden in the Bosu Mk3, sole representative of F6Squared in Holland that weekend.
And that’s when I was asked “the question”. I gave Ben a call that afternoon, “do you fancy taking the Regal Mk5 rather than your mk3?” there was no messing about. That was yes. And that’s where it starts.
Ryan did an immaculate job of cleaning the car before setting off on holiday, Ben arrived 8.30 am on the Saturday and with my bulb kit, warning triangle and floro safety vest thrown in the back of the mk5 we embarked on the on the first leg of our journey to Folkstone for the train.
We arrived at the terminal with time to spare, more than enough time to park up and grab a hideously overpriced breakfast and a fistful of Euros while we waited for out travelling companions, Jay from VW Players, Darren from G-Werks and Richie Payne.
No sooner had I made my introductions “those with passes labelled letter J” were summoned to embark.
Our 3 travelling companions were all riding in Jay’s newly acquired Aubergine G60. The car looked utterly stunning with freshly shot Paynes Body Tecnik paint, 17” BBS RS loaned off Darren at G-Werks and stance dialled in by the man himself, it was unbelievable that the car had been turned around in just 2 weeks! Oh, and the 6x9s. I cannot forget the 6x9s. A very nice touch indeed.
The weight of the baggage (and dare I say occupants? ) had taken its toll on the mk2’s arch liners. Not enough to be a concern, but enough to prove it was as low as possible with them in! So the RSR became the pack donkey for the trip, the springs on the AST coilovers not even quivering under the strain of what was now 5 men’s luggage.
Jay lead the way into Passport control. Unfortunately for him, the Police wanted to have a closer look at the Mk2. The lack of front reg. plate and somewhat “not regulation” rear was deemed enough to arouse suspicion. With Jay out of the car, he was walked to the rear and asked to justify his “obviously modified” tailgate and “frankly ridiculous” rear plate. The officer asked if he knew what a regulation reg. plate was meant to look like? “it needs to look like this...” as, to our amusement, he turned around to point at the front of the mk5, proudly reppin’ a motorbike sized plate. He stopped himself mid sentence to utter “oh, your mate’s got stupid plates too... just get them changed when you’re back in the Uk!”
Having managed to “escape” the Police we were then pulled ourselves by customs for a routine vehicle search “no compressed gas on board sir?” Ben looked around smugly, his 11th hour text message to remind me to take the Nitrous bottle out was not in vein! Given the all clear we were off to board.
Once on the train and parked up that was the fear of “potentially catastrophic moment #1” dispatched from my head: Actually getting the car down the centre of the train without destroying the basically brand new CCW wheels on the unforgiving metal edge strips on the side walkways.
After the swift crossing under the channel we found ourselves in France. A quick punt (and I mean quick, Jay’s choice of cruising speed was particularly impressive) down the French Autoroutes before stopping off at Belgian service station to stock up on Cecemel and super unleaded.
Darren jumped into the mk5 and Ben switched to the driver’s seat for the remainder of the journey to Holland, both suitably impressed with the “spritely” yet smooth performance that the 2.0TFSI delivered.
Despite Ben being given a hard time for “driving the fastest car in the world slower than I thought would be possible” we stopped again for G60 to fuel up, I re-took the reigns and continued the drive to the Leiden Holiday Inn.
The car was given a much needed rinse after the 400 mile pounding and we all settled down with a Duval or 2 and hob-nobbed with the Hoi Polloi.
Seeing as we were hungry by this point, but unwilling to venture out into Leiden to experience the local offerings, a trip to McDonalds was in order. The BCO burger being the choice of champs, finished off with a “museli” McFlurry and washed down with another round of Chocomel. Lovely stuff!
After we had wolfed down our own food, we dropped the takeaway order to the lads at the Holiday Inn and (after demonstrating how the MK5’s launch control worked in the car park) we made our way over to the “Van der Valk Hotel Leiden” to check in.
The nocturnal activities of the Holiday Inn car park promised much, so Ben and I made our way back over that evening, popped into the bar, grabbed another Duval and made our way to the car park.
Ghost town. Turns out the new structure of the show with part of it being inside meant that some of the cars had been dropped off at the show on the Saturday, so less to gawp at in the car park this year, so with the few cars examined we called the others to see what they were up to “we got a cab to Amsterdam” riiiiiiiiight...
Then I received a conveniently timed phonecall from Elliott who slurred something along the lines of “what are you cunts up to then? Bring FastCar to our hotel” We jumped into a cab and flew over to the Golden Tulip in the centre of town to meet Ell, Bass and their respective partners. We drank drinks, chatted rubbish and mostly took the piss out of Dave. All was good until certain members of the group got a bit rowdy causing them to close the bar (they said it was time, but we knew better than that) but I’m not at liberty to divulge any further information. We then hopped in cab back to the Van der Valk to grab some well earned (and much needed) beauty sleep.
Sunday morning, woke up bright as a pair of buttons, opened the curtains, enthusiasm plummeted. Where on earth did yesterday’s sunshine go? Undeterred we jumped into the Mk5, aimed in the direction the show must have been in and stopped off to fill it with V-Power for the return leg. How much!!!!??? Turns out we ain’t got shit on the Dutch when it comes to petrol prices! Check out these warlocks:
Luckily we latched on to another group of UK Volkswagen enthusiasts who guided us in to the airfield where the show was being held in. We got to the gates, Ben tried (and failed) to drop the “We’re with the magazine so can we come in for free please” line. No amount of business cards, name drops or free copies of FastCar were going to dodge the not at all unreasonable 15euro combined entry fee.
The show itself was awesome. I’m not able to use any of the “proper” magazine coverage shots, but there was an amazing display of metal from all around Europe. If you haven’t seen the plethora of online galleries you’ll just have to wait a month or so until the mag. coverage surfaces.
We waited for the prizes to be given out, it’s fair to say the UK guys did us proud taking home a whole host of prizes, none more pleased however than “Sia-Ocp” who was taking a trophy for 3rd placed Mk5 back with him to Northern Ireland.
With myself at the wheel and Ben and Darren crashed out in the passengers’ seats we set off on the return leg back to Calais, gaining a couple of extra cars for this leg of the journey, making this an actual convoy travelling non-stop until the G60 needed juice just after the Antwerp tunnels.
Wanting to get some rolling shots of each of the cars Jay climbed into the Mk5 to get some snaps of the G60 and Ben did the opposite, Richie now at the wheel of the Mk2.
After a whistle stop visit to the terminal, we flew through passport control and straight on the train, the tried and tested hanging out the window so as not to merk the wheels technique was re-employed and with Elliott on the same crossing the now christened “Scene train” made its way under the channel to our favoured choice of European county!
Despite nearly being run off the road on the way off of the train itself by a pair of fat, balding idiots in a MK6 TDi we were safely back on home soil, stopping off at another Shell garage (bearing in mind it gets filled up when it reaches ¼ tank, the RSR hadn’t done badly at all! ) just outside the tunnel, Ben carefully guided the Mk5 the remainder of the route home. “Isn’t it crazy that we started here yesterday morning?”. All in all a good weekend’s entertainment.
Thanks to Chris at Regal Autosport for the use of the awesome Golf Mk5 GTi “RSR”, Ben at FastCar Magazine for the company and taking all the snaps used above and everyone else for the laughs along the way. See you next year... in full F6 Force!
And that’s when I was asked “the question”. I gave Ben a call that afternoon, “do you fancy taking the Regal Mk5 rather than your mk3?” there was no messing about. That was yes. And that’s where it starts.
Ryan did an immaculate job of cleaning the car before setting off on holiday, Ben arrived 8.30 am on the Saturday and with my bulb kit, warning triangle and floro safety vest thrown in the back of the mk5 we embarked on the on the first leg of our journey to Folkstone for the train.
We arrived at the terminal with time to spare, more than enough time to park up and grab a hideously overpriced breakfast and a fistful of Euros while we waited for out travelling companions, Jay from VW Players, Darren from G-Werks and Richie Payne.
No sooner had I made my introductions “those with passes labelled letter J” were summoned to embark.
Our 3 travelling companions were all riding in Jay’s newly acquired Aubergine G60. The car looked utterly stunning with freshly shot Paynes Body Tecnik paint, 17” BBS RS loaned off Darren at G-Werks and stance dialled in by the man himself, it was unbelievable that the car had been turned around in just 2 weeks! Oh, and the 6x9s. I cannot forget the 6x9s. A very nice touch indeed.
The weight of the baggage (and dare I say occupants? ) had taken its toll on the mk2’s arch liners. Not enough to be a concern, but enough to prove it was as low as possible with them in! So the RSR became the pack donkey for the trip, the springs on the AST coilovers not even quivering under the strain of what was now 5 men’s luggage.
Jay lead the way into Passport control. Unfortunately for him, the Police wanted to have a closer look at the Mk2. The lack of front reg. plate and somewhat “not regulation” rear was deemed enough to arouse suspicion. With Jay out of the car, he was walked to the rear and asked to justify his “obviously modified” tailgate and “frankly ridiculous” rear plate. The officer asked if he knew what a regulation reg. plate was meant to look like? “it needs to look like this...” as, to our amusement, he turned around to point at the front of the mk5, proudly reppin’ a motorbike sized plate. He stopped himself mid sentence to utter “oh, your mate’s got stupid plates too... just get them changed when you’re back in the Uk!”
Having managed to “escape” the Police we were then pulled ourselves by customs for a routine vehicle search “no compressed gas on board sir?” Ben looked around smugly, his 11th hour text message to remind me to take the Nitrous bottle out was not in vein! Given the all clear we were off to board.
Once on the train and parked up that was the fear of “potentially catastrophic moment #1” dispatched from my head: Actually getting the car down the centre of the train without destroying the basically brand new CCW wheels on the unforgiving metal edge strips on the side walkways.
After the swift crossing under the channel we found ourselves in France. A quick punt (and I mean quick, Jay’s choice of cruising speed was particularly impressive) down the French Autoroutes before stopping off at Belgian service station to stock up on Cecemel and super unleaded.
Darren jumped into the mk5 and Ben switched to the driver’s seat for the remainder of the journey to Holland, both suitably impressed with the “spritely” yet smooth performance that the 2.0TFSI delivered.
Despite Ben being given a hard time for “driving the fastest car in the world slower than I thought would be possible” we stopped again for G60 to fuel up, I re-took the reigns and continued the drive to the Leiden Holiday Inn.
The car was given a much needed rinse after the 400 mile pounding and we all settled down with a Duval or 2 and hob-nobbed with the Hoi Polloi.
Seeing as we were hungry by this point, but unwilling to venture out into Leiden to experience the local offerings, a trip to McDonalds was in order. The BCO burger being the choice of champs, finished off with a “museli” McFlurry and washed down with another round of Chocomel. Lovely stuff!
After we had wolfed down our own food, we dropped the takeaway order to the lads at the Holiday Inn and (after demonstrating how the MK5’s launch control worked in the car park) we made our way over to the “Van der Valk Hotel Leiden” to check in.
The nocturnal activities of the Holiday Inn car park promised much, so Ben and I made our way back over that evening, popped into the bar, grabbed another Duval and made our way to the car park.
Ghost town. Turns out the new structure of the show with part of it being inside meant that some of the cars had been dropped off at the show on the Saturday, so less to gawp at in the car park this year, so with the few cars examined we called the others to see what they were up to “we got a cab to Amsterdam” riiiiiiiiight...
Then I received a conveniently timed phonecall from Elliott who slurred something along the lines of “what are you cunts up to then? Bring FastCar to our hotel” We jumped into a cab and flew over to the Golden Tulip in the centre of town to meet Ell, Bass and their respective partners. We drank drinks, chatted rubbish and mostly took the piss out of Dave. All was good until certain members of the group got a bit rowdy causing them to close the bar (they said it was time, but we knew better than that) but I’m not at liberty to divulge any further information. We then hopped in cab back to the Van der Valk to grab some well earned (and much needed) beauty sleep.
Sunday morning, woke up bright as a pair of buttons, opened the curtains, enthusiasm plummeted. Where on earth did yesterday’s sunshine go? Undeterred we jumped into the Mk5, aimed in the direction the show must have been in and stopped off to fill it with V-Power for the return leg. How much!!!!??? Turns out we ain’t got shit on the Dutch when it comes to petrol prices! Check out these warlocks:
Luckily we latched on to another group of UK Volkswagen enthusiasts who guided us in to the airfield where the show was being held in. We got to the gates, Ben tried (and failed) to drop the “We’re with the magazine so can we come in for free please” line. No amount of business cards, name drops or free copies of FastCar were going to dodge the not at all unreasonable 15euro combined entry fee.
The show itself was awesome. I’m not able to use any of the “proper” magazine coverage shots, but there was an amazing display of metal from all around Europe. If you haven’t seen the plethora of online galleries you’ll just have to wait a month or so until the mag. coverage surfaces.
We waited for the prizes to be given out, it’s fair to say the UK guys did us proud taking home a whole host of prizes, none more pleased however than “Sia-Ocp” who was taking a trophy for 3rd placed Mk5 back with him to Northern Ireland.
With myself at the wheel and Ben and Darren crashed out in the passengers’ seats we set off on the return leg back to Calais, gaining a couple of extra cars for this leg of the journey, making this an actual convoy travelling non-stop until the G60 needed juice just after the Antwerp tunnels.
Wanting to get some rolling shots of each of the cars Jay climbed into the Mk5 to get some snaps of the G60 and Ben did the opposite, Richie now at the wheel of the Mk2.
After a whistle stop visit to the terminal, we flew through passport control and straight on the train, the tried and tested hanging out the window so as not to merk the wheels technique was re-employed and with Elliott on the same crossing the now christened “Scene train” made its way under the channel to our favoured choice of European county!
Despite nearly being run off the road on the way off of the train itself by a pair of fat, balding idiots in a MK6 TDi we were safely back on home soil, stopping off at another Shell garage (bearing in mind it gets filled up when it reaches ¼ tank, the RSR hadn’t done badly at all! ) just outside the tunnel, Ben carefully guided the Mk5 the remainder of the route home. “Isn’t it crazy that we started here yesterday morning?”. All in all a good weekend’s entertainment.
Thanks to Chris at Regal Autosport for the use of the awesome Golf Mk5 GTi “RSR”, Ben at FastCar Magazine for the company and taking all the snaps used above and everyone else for the laughs along the way. See you next year... in full F6 Force!
on April 27, 2011, 9:09 am