A fan of German cars? The German Car Festival had it all as the inaugural event descended on Silverstone circuit for the first time in 2023. Here’s our full show report and gallery!
VWs, Audis, BMWs, Mercs and more descended on Silverstone as the German Car Festival kicked off its inaugural event on September 10th, 2023. From air-cooled wonders, to old-school drifters and right-off-the-showroom-floor builds, it doesn’t matter what genre of modifying you love, there was something for everyone.
Car Clubs
As always, the car clubs made up the vast majority of the show, with our favorites coming from clubs that welcomed a mix of make and models. New BMW M cars sat alongside old-school E30s and air-cooled Beetles, bringing together retro and modern in a symphony of awesomeness.
Magazine Stands
Representing Performance VW and Total BMW magazines were past and present feature cars, with our hearts being stolen away by an utterly beautiful BMW 2002 Turbo complete with a snail 10x bigger than the one that left the factory with… A widebody VW Polo also stood out from the crowd with the attention to detail on another level than what we’ve seen in the past
Those who like their cars on the larger size were satisfied with a brilliant Kenwood-built VW Amarok. Keep your eyes peeled on the website for the full feature on that coming soon.
Of course no Kelsey show would be complete without our very own display, sponsored by 3M…. Tasked with populating the TRAX Social area within the event, we brought together past feature cars of yesteryear, with a Renault R5 and Mk7 Celica drawing the most attention.
Track Time Sponsored By RacingLine
Being at Silverstone, the highlights of the event for many is the track time. Giving show goers the opportunity to take their cars onto the famous Silverstone circuit in 20 minute sessions, we saw new GT Porsches mixing with track-built Minis, Cupras, AMGs and more.
Drift Kings By Tire Streets
Brought to you by Tire Streets, the drifters took to the track in three separate sessions to determine who the ultimate drifter is. Here, cars were not restricted to German only, with the likes of Axel Hildebrand taking to the track in his Rotorvette, a car we featured right here. The talent that these drivers hold beggars belief. If you haven’t seen the guys and girls on track before, then you’re missing out!
Club Hero Award – Marie Wisemen
The Club Hero Award was rightfully won by Marie Wiseman of Purely Static car club. Marie’s fellow club members nominated her for the award for everything she does for the club.
“She puts everything into this group to keep it running and makes everyone feel like they belong. She is always making sure everything runs smoothly on club stand days and we all end the day on cloud 9.
The effort and love she puts into it, countless late nights and early mornings, even sleepless nights here and there. She does this almost single handedly because she loves what they have created and what the group stands for.
Marie is a kind, caring individual who would do anything to take care of and welcome/involve the purely static members”.
Best Club Stand – Team AMG
Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach, in other words, AMG. We know that these three little letters in that order means that whatever Mercedes model it is, it’s bloody fast. And Team AMG brought some delights to the event, showcasing new and old models side-by-side in an impressive display that inevitably wowed our judges. They were crowned Best Club Stand on the day.
Best Regional Club stand – South Scirocco Club
Taking home the award for Best Regional Club Stand was South Scirocco Club. Their eclectic mix of Sciroccos was enough for our judges to deem them worthy of an award, and quite rightly so. Club members did a great job of personalizing their cars with modifications that were not only pleasing on the eye, but also delivered plenty of performance too. Congrats to the South Scirocco Club.
Best One Make Club – VW MK2 Owners Club
If you love your old school VWs, then you’ll be happy to hear that our judges awarded the VW Mk2 Owners Club with the award of Best One Make Club. Clean, original cars sat side-by-side with limited edition variants and clean modified examples. Worthy of the award!
More to follow!
