Having established itself as the number one show of the day, GTI International held at the Transport Research laboratory (TRL) Crowthorne provided GTI enthusiasts with their annual pilgrimage. Increasing gate figures quickly saw it's original venue at Knebworth outgrown. Crowthorne provided the right logistics, the enthusiasts provided the cars and the atmosphere made itself, people jostled for position to get a glimpse of the quarter mile action, others caught up with the latest builds from creative individuals and tuning houses alike. With the popularity of the show ever increasing, a small but significant group would turn up, their numbers increasing year by year - the Europeans. The significance of their attendance changed the outlook of one group of individuals and their styling cues would go on to lead something of a revolution in the watercooled world...
Without internet forums and the dedicated VW magazines of today the yearning to know more could only be satisfied by visiting them on home soil. It's 1991 and the curiousity of the Oxford contingent - some 30 strong including, Danny Smith, Steve Bush, Tony Chan (Oxford regional Club GTI chairman), Richard Chadwick to name but a few would create a convoy 15+ cars strong, 2 up in each car. Heading out early on the Thursday morning it's easy to imagine the eagerness and excitement of the group as they headed towards Dover and the awaiting Townsend Thoresen. These were the pioneers, the first people out there in Europe. For all the excitement, of the now mecca of VW shows 'Worthersee', the show at the Baarlo Sportspack in Venlo, Holland was the chosen destination and was at the time arguably THE destination to attract the finest VW's Europe had to offer. Situated in the south of Holland, Venlo offered the perfect location, attracting visitors from all neighbouring countries. The convoy of British cars, themselves no slouches to a more refined look must have been some spectacle. Danny remembers with justifiable pride the British contingent as we consider Tony Chans ride - an '86 Mk2 Gti in Atlas grey, running low on Borbet A's - it must have been some convoy with Tony running the infamous Oettinger 16s powerplant, remember this was nearly 20 years ago!
The run down to Venlo from Calais proved amazingly easy, settling into the hotel Danny considered the first priority and promptly set out on a mission to find the D&W store to view the latest offerings. The main event, staged over the Saturday and Sunday was the main focus of attention and didn't dissapoint, this weekend would satisfy the very appetites that saw them heading for Europe in the first place. ''It was amazing'' recalls Danny, ''You needed to study the cars carefully to appreciate the sublety of the modifications and the thought process behind them, everywhere you looked you'd be seeing things which would blow you away''. Consider for a moment, the previous years pictures from GTI International - specifically the Zender kitted mk2, what was happening in Venlo was everything that car was in wow factor but polar opposites aesthetically. These were the same cars but stripped to a minimalist state, GTI side trim replaced with base model spats, plastic sill coverings and arches lost altogether, no twin exhausts but more discreet single pea shooter offerings, 17" wheels out - 14" and 15" wheels in - most notably BBS RS with 'low profile' 195/50/15 tyres. Although these cars ran low, it's worth noting this was a good few years before coilover suspension was available to anyone but racing teams. Improvisation was the name of the game and the Europeans had it nailed. Bonrath products were gathering momentum, their single wiper kit perhaps the most popular - ''you could adapt the linkage from the Scirocco item but it was important to have the latest Bonrath embossed item'' recalls Danny. Perhaps one of the most significant discoveries was on the Dietrict stand where the company demo'd vehichle's with the latest low profile rubber in the form of the 175/50/13, they'd not seen anything like it up until this point, mk2's running these 13's transformed the look completely, looking stretched out, elongated by the dimunitive size rollers. Despite the mk2 platform being the Oxford boys preferred weapon of choice and main focus of interest, mk1's featured heavily at Baarlo, ''You had to look carefully at what they'd done, you were looking at things so subtle they could easily be missed'', in this case they were grafting in BMW and Mercedes rear tail lights. Likewise the boys discovered a mod that they'd eventually market through Oxford Edition, 'We'd keep seeing these vents in the bonnet, we just couldn't work out what they were from'' the improvisation was all to clear to see, even if at times the specifics remained a mystery. The elusive bonnet vents were eventually tracked down to C pillar vents from a pre '78 Opel Kadett, the boys scouring every scrap yard on their return for these rich pickings. Baarlo also had the obligatory quarter mile strip - staged at what was essentually a speedway circuit meant jumping on the brakes as you reached the finish line straight into a turn! Some hairy moments only distracted by cries of 'Gummi Gummi' and seeing the previous days show cars spinning their wheels until the tyres let go - a European speciality.
It's fair to say the weekend, the cars and the experience set a presidence for the Oxford boys and would inspire their own take on the European way with huge sucess - the U.K hadn't seen anything like this unless they were one of the few privvy to the offerings dished up monthly in the pages of VW Scene International. The reality is, for everything the Germans may stand for now and get critiscised for, they are unreservedly the pass masters in this game. There's a very good chance that cars you witnessed at shows in 2009 have there roots from these forward thinking individuals - they were way ahead of their time, way ahead of anyone else, a lesson in simplicity unrivalled by anyone...
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