VW Action

Herts County Showground
3rd - 5th September 2004

  
Following a classy dinner of the Colonel’s finest chicken seated by the Racer, Nicki & I embarked on the hour-long journey up the M1 to the Herts Country Showground and the VW Action Pimps & Ho’s weekend.
After a lap of the campsite to get our bearings, we arrived at the Dub-Club stand to find Glen unloading all sorts of camping necessities from the Vento. Initially, the most useful of these was the florescent strip light that allowed us to erect our tent in the rapidly failing evening light.
Once Slugga, Mark & Polaris had arrived and pitched their tents, it was time to wander down to the main show area and check out the entertainment. First off was a crazy-looking ride that propelled the riders in all directions, and at great speed! I was completely up-for-it, as was Slugga. We took our seats only to find that one of us possessed “too broader shoulders” to get the safety bar down! Luckily Mark stepped in and the stomach-churning ride was allowed to continue. Afterwards, we caused chaos on the dodgems before retiring back to the camp for some late-night banter and attempted sleep in the now-freezing cold tents.
I awoke on Saturday morning to a beautifully sunny morning. Whilst the other campers got themselves ready, I made the most of the conditions by lying on the roof of the racer and catching some early rays. With food now the #1 priority, several of us headed back down the A5 for the local greasy trucker’s café for a proper dirt breakfast. Full of bacon & eggs, it was time to peruse the large autojumble area back at the show. To my eye, the various stalls sold pretty much everything you’d need to build a new Camper or Beetle from scratch!
On the Saturday, the show & shine competition was geared towards daily drivers. Besides one or two cars on display that were clearly not driven everyday, the turnout was excellent from both the air & water-cooled fraternities. There was a superb stand featuring at least ten Type 3s – Mark (an air-cooled boy at heart) commented that he had never seen so many in one place before!
After a BBQ of mixed fortunes, it was time for the main Saturday night event – the Pimps & Ho’s disco! We departed the camping area with Slugga dressed in his ‘Scream’ costume, and Mark & Pola each with a bottle of wine inside them. Following more fun on the dodgems, we headed for a boogie where the music of the 70s was pumping out of every speaker. There were some excellent examples of Pimps & Ho’s on display… velour suits and hats aplenty, with several ho’s leaving little to the imagination!
On return to camp Dub-Club, it was time for more drinking and chatter. Leanne came over from the GolfGTI.co.uk stand and was promptly handcuffed to Mark – with much glee from the group! Only after about 15 minutes of pain did Leanne remember that there was a manual release on the cuffs, bringing much relief to the very drunken Mark.
After we went to bed, the other drunkards obeyed their natural instincts and started up another instant BBQ to cremate some more meat. With Pola & Slugga still deluding themselves that they were driving to Edition 38 in the morning, Glen began a late-night astronomy session – although he could not locate the Big Dipper!
For all the talk of spending Sunday at Edition 38, Pola & Slugga failed dismally to crawl out of bed on time! Paul had impressively packed his tent and left without waking anyone before 7am – and Mark had to sober up fast as he sadly received the call from work and had to head off early. Once the rest of us had sorted ourselves out, there was the autojumble to attend to… Pola was, as always, being tempted by old-skool bling – but I spotted a brand-new VAG bumper, and with a little fast-talking from Glen it was mine… for £12!
As is traditional for the VW Action shows, Sunday is devoted to the concourse cars; and in the gorgeous early-September sunshine they gleamed like new. Both cooling types were well represented, with Danny’s cabby and the Rev’s Rocco both entered in the modified category, and Kristian’s mk1 Rocco in the stock competition. Other highlights included several Karmann Ghias, a yellow Beetle on 4-stud detailed Fuchs and a perfectly finished beige Crewcab splittie.
Plenty of photos later, we began the task of clearing up the Dub-Club camping plot. While we waited for the tent to dry out, the lure of sitting on the Racer for a little pimp round the showground was too much… With Glen at the wheel, Nicki in the boot, Slugga hanging out the window and Pola & I on the roof, we headed off. It is a testament to how laid-back the Action crowd are that no one questioned us driving down the busy sections of the show, piled-high on a mk2 Golf.
Once we were back, the crowd gathered for the results of the concourse. Both Dub-Clubbers picked up top 10 trophies for their dubs – an excellent result. Following the announcement of the rest of the runners up, the winners stepped up to claim their prizes. Among them was Kristian, with his tip-top Rocco taking best in show for stock water-cooled.
Having packed-up, all the campers left in high spirits, having spent a brilliant weekend in the Hertfordshire countryside.
Words by Tris, pictures by Tris & Ted.