Sensing an opportunity after the cancellation of the annual Wörthersee festival to “bring it home”, Volkswagen’s inaugural GTI Fan Festival has been hailed as a resounding success. Ian McLaren reflects on his highlights from the event
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Hosted on the shores of Lake Wörthersee, in Austria, since 1982, news of the growing reluctance of the local community of this area to continue hosting up to 200 000 excitable fans of the Volkswagen brand over a four-day festival sparked immediate intrigue within the halls of VWAG’s Wolfsburg head office. While the annual pilgrimage of predominantly Golf GTI fans had arguably outgrown this otherwise quaint location, Volkswagen saw an opportunity to “bring it home” in the form of an inaugural GTI Fan Festival hosted on the doorstep of its Wolfsburg Plant.
Related: How It Started: Volkswagen Golf GTI
Attracting 15 000 visitors and hundreds of prized Volkswagen Golf GTIs from all eight generations of this iconic hatchback, the first GTI Fan Festival was a feast for those with an affinity for the famous red pinstripe and those three capital letters.
Highlights of this event include:
Location
Opened in 1938, while much of Volkswagen’s original plant remains intact, VW’s Wolfsburg precinct has grown to accommodate both vastly increased production capacity and a so-called Autostad that plays host to everything from a museum to dedicated pavilions for each of the Volkswagen Group brands, children’s play areas and even a concert venue.
While the GTI Fan Festival was focused around the accompanying Volkswagen Arena (home to the Wolfsburg Bundesliga football team), the fact that attendees could use the occasion to tour the home of Volkswagen added to the appeal of this relocated event.
South Africa on the map
While the sight of a mint-condition blue Citi Golf displayed in the Autostad brought a smile to my face, several interactions and presentations throughout the GTI Fan Festival drew focus on the role that the South African market still plays in the legacy of the Golf and the GTI badge.
Wearing a Springbok rugby jersey and a pair of Veldskoen, a presentation on the show’s main stage by the chairperson and managing director of Volkswagen Group Africa, Martina Biene, showcased the popularity of the GTI badge in South Africa – including a demonstration of its “Vrrrpha” nickname – and the fact that Kariega is now the only plant producing the Polo GTI.
Concept cars
Realising the popularity and significance of the annual Wörthersee gathering, in 2013 Volkswagen began using this event to showcase its wares in the form of fresh production models and exciting GTI-themed concept cars and design studies. The brand announced this participation via the extreme Design Vision GTI concept car that introduced wild body panels and aerodynamics and a 370 kW, twin-turbocharged version of the V6 engine from the VR6.
Related: Mk1 VW Golf Handed Mk7 GTI Engine Courtesy of SA Tuner
A row of these concept cars and design studies presented at the GTI Fan Festival culminated in the newest ID. GTI concept that introduces the all-electric future of this iconic hatch.
The Fans
A festival for the fans, it was evident from both accents and the EU-type number plates attached to cars that many visitors to the event had travelled across borders to attend. Throughout the weekend, a selection of owners and their cars were introduced and interviewed on the show’s main stage. This included a Swede who has travelled throughout Europe in his accessorised GTI Mk1, an Austrian whose GTI Mk7’s suspension lowered as she parked and a young lady who drove her 150 kW Up! GTI from her home in England to the show.
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From GTI-branded Adidas trainers to t-shirts, jackets, posters, sets of interior carpets, valve caps and an official Volkswagen Classic stand ready to sell you a replacement grille for any generation GTI, the show catered to all needs and currencies.
The Parking Area
A lesson learned when I attended Goodwood Festival of Speed, at events like these that cater to the enthusiast, always allow time to visit the public parking area. From a row of immaculate Mk1 GTIs to a heavily modified Mk2 fitted with a turbocharged 5-cylinder engine from an Audi TT RS donor car and countless lowered and “stanced” examples of cars from all eight generations to date, more than 700 VWAG cars, the majority of which were Golf GTIs, filled the parking area alongside the event.
The festival culminated in a convoy of these owners and their cars being granted permission to drive the network of streets within VWAG’s impressive Wolfsburg Production facility.
