Where The Reichs Racers Meet
Each year around this time, owners of – what is the German equivalent to rice racer? Reichs Racer? – overengined hatches congregate around the Wörthersee in Austria for the annual GTI Meeting. This is the 31st year it will take place, the roads will be packed, beer and gasoline will flow in equally monstrous quantities, and the bucolic lake will boil. Also as usual, Volkswagen will send some special specimens to entertain the devotees. Here they are.
To put you in the mood, here is a video clip from last year. If you hurry, you can still get the tail end of the GTI Meet. It lasts through Saturday the 19th. Go to Munich, head south, follow the crowd.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I watched a program on German television last year about this meet. The program, unlike, this clip, went on to show all the German police waiting on the autobahns to "chat" with the VW fans returning from Austria about their modifications. This involved a lot of Golfs getting towed away while the owners stood and looked very very sad. And poorer. There is a reason that companies like Alpin, Brabus, Arden and the rest of the tuners are licensed as manufacturers in Germany as you modify at your own risk as a DIYer.
What I saw in the last 5 seconds of that video cannot be unseen. I have seen things....terrible things.