| Audi Driver International, at Castle Combe in Wiltshire is in only its third year but to there credit Autometrix seem to have done a great job in organising this one. The venue for those who haven't been there before is mercifully well sign posted from the M4. Even the staff are helpful and friendly doing their best to get you parked as close to the action as possible. Close would be an understatement! We (I dragged Bauhaus (Andre) along) paid the huge £5 entrance fee and were pointed in the rough direction they wanted us to park, none of that silly pull up to the steward go this way do that rubbish! As soon as we got out of the car you could hear the roar of Audis on the track, that was so close your could taste the rubber! They even have proper clean toilet blocks with sinks that work and paper towels to dry your hands! |
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| It was a very short walk back to where the static displays where we were greeted by a row of series 2 coupe Quattros (a personal favourite of mine) on the Quattro forum stand. On the other side of the road way were a tasty selection original RS2 Avants - I think it was the RS2 forum stand, and I still think that blue is the best colour for them. Anyway further down the roadway that leads to the track entrance were Club Audi and The Audi Drivers club stands both with a healthy turn out and a good variety of models - Everything from 80s and 100s to V8 A6s, all in various states of originality and tune. There was even a stand of A2s, one with an illuminated grill badge. Other stands included the TT owners club and the Series 1 Coupe Owners Club stand. If you haven’t ever seen a series 1 imagine a 70s Aston Martin with an Audi badge. There was a good showing of Auto Union’s from the 60s as well. I counted three short wheelbase URs, all looking menacingly good with their flared arches and bonnet vents. Looking at all the cars on display I would say that Porsche brakes, 20V turbo engines and Quattro drive train are defiantly the things to have!! |
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| The trade stands seemed to deal with the more serious performance modifications for the newer cars; there were a lot of massive brake disks and callipers that could easily stop a bus… and as usual Autoglym and Maguire’s were there fighting it out. There were a couple of new-old stock stands if you fancied a rummage. The best place to lighten your wallet seemed to be the Merlin Motor Sport shop, which is permanently on site anyway. |
| Audi UK bought down their Audi test drive road show: 6 very tasty A8 Quattros in red, sounded like the V8s to me. The idea was you sign up and get to thrash the A8 round a handling course and you get your time at the end - you would not have believed the state of the tyres at 3 o’clock! Looked like a great laugh, I didn’t have a go, as I knew I would make a complete smeg of it in front of all those critical eyes… Maybe next year though! |
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| Once we had managed to drag ourselves past the static displays we headed over the bridge to the trackside. That’s when we were very glad it was sunny and not raining as you have to climb up a muddy grass slope to the top of a small hill which serves as the grandstand. From there you get a good view of about half the track, with a big sweeping bend right in front of you - Great for watching the tyre shredding action! Each session is ten minutes long and you can see the faster cars over taking the slower as when they come back in to view. The fastest car as far as I could tell was a yellow V6 bi-turbo Avant, every time he reappeared he had passed another car - It passed URs like they were Ford Fiestas! |
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| There was no particular order in which the cars were sent out, so you would have non-turbo series 2 coupes with TTs and RS2s. The hero car of the day had to be the NSU TT though, despite its age and low CC it was keeping up with the modern stuff without too much trouble! That’s progress I guess… |
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| The whole event had a really good feel about it, the people were friendly and more than happy to talk cars, especially their own! There was a mature feel about this event: no chavs, no thumping stereos and no silly behaviour from people leaving the event, all of which added to the relaxed feel that made it a great day out. |
| Words by Ali, pictures by Andre & Ali. |