Post 172. Day 3 part 3. Club GTI Wolfsburg trip March 2015

only 3 days left boys... can't wait for this TRIP !!!/... Going to get my car cleaned today and do all the prep work for the trip...

 

I need to fit 2 tyres, and check my exhaust for rattles or leaks.

My little man is looking forward to it and so am I.

1400+ miles in a Golf MK2 with a short final drive and an angry ABF motor should be extra entertaining!

Am I mad?...hell yes!

 

Come on boys how did it go ?none of posted anything yet

 

Tired from driving a day. We had very poor wifi in Germany, Eddie is currently writing a big report. Was great though. All those that pulled out or didn't commit missed a blinder.

 

Great Trip, A big thank you to the club for organising this event !

 

Nice to hear you had a great time lads.

Looking forward to the report and of course the pictures.

I would of been up for coming on this trip if it wasn't for personal circumstances, but what can you do.

 

Come on gentlemen it's nearly two weeks since you got back and not one picture

 

Pictures are all on my https://www.flickr.com/photos/lukedeakin/sets/72157648946547134/

 

Club GTI Wolfsburg/EU tour 2015 Intro and Day 1

The background.

For a few years on this forum, there has been some random mutterings to arrange a road trip for Club GTI to Wolfsburg Germany, the birthplace of Volkswagen.

Finally in December, HPR, yours truly and my children, decided to take a pre visit to obtain the contacts for the tours, locate some of the sites and sounds, plus find hotels etc for a potential club visit. In addition, Hugo pulled a 'special' and we went and visited one of the VW motorsport legends, with a drive to the 'Pied Piper of Hameln', Mr Misczyk of Misczyk Tuning.
Here are some additional pictures to capture that time.

Der Zeit Haus against the back drop of the 77 year old factory towers


Inside the Zeit Haus an old school Scirocco 16v


And the newer school Bugatti Veyron, the engine we later got to see in detail at Salzgitter.



Wolfsburg factory towers by night.

Bringing you Fahrvernugen as "Das Welt Auto".


Our hotel in Gifhorn 20kms from WoB.


Dinner.


On the way to Hameln.




Mr Misczyk and his wife in the office.






I still remember that trip just after Christmas. It was some trip and a great outing with Hugo and the children.

However it was nothing like the full on one we came back from from just 2 weeks ago.

Lead up to March 3rd

Hugo got busy and started make enquires with VW in Kassel, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg for english tours. The hotel in Gifhorn was also contacted and all that was left to do was to gather participation. So off I was sent.
The most of the factory tours needed a maximum of 15 people, so this thread was bumped and shared on facebook to gather interest. Initially there was quite a lot of interest as seen in this thread and in the end 7 committed and paid up for the trip.

Well that time came and what a trip it was. In hindsight we think this is was a trip that should be high up on the agenda for any die hard VW enthusiast. Whether it was the thrill of driving on the speed limit free Autobahns, or the entrance into Wolfsburg with so many VWs with a 'WoB' number plate, the Autostadt site, VW museum or just the vastness of the place, this trip was packed with lots to learn.

With HPR as our lead, the trip was even more special as he was there to translate the German language as well as give explanations to some of the history behind certain processes or even some of the vehicles in the museum he had seen raced.

In the end, due to clashes, the Kassel factory tour was dropped. So this report, seeks to summarise of the experiences when visiting, Salzgitter, one of Volkswagens engine plants, the Autostadt ( car city) in Wolfsburg, The Wolfsburg Factory (home of the Golf), VW Classic parts, VW museum and as a quick look at VW motorsport in Hannover.
As these sites were visited on different days and followed a time table around the english tours, we will report for each day of the tour.

People on the trip
Hugo (HPR)
Luke (Deako)
Gaj (gaj07)
Eddie (toyotec)
Jerome (Blumotion)

Apologies
Nathan (nut20v)
Tristram (duff)
Simon (6cy_si)

Day 1

Travel time, Destination Gifhorn, Germany

The day began at 2:00 am for Jerome and I as we got the car packed ready for the trip.



3.35am Jerome and I set off with nearly 590 miles to go WoB.



However this trip was not attempted in an 160mph 8L S3 this time, oh no! This trip was done the hardcore way, in a 23 year old VW with a short final drive gear box

The M25 in West London pretty clear at this time of the morning.



Gaj was also up at the same time and also set off around 3:30am towards Dover. Gaj was from the Watford area and I from West London.
Gaj drove his 140ps Scirocco TDI. As hinted, Jerome and I decided to take JENVEE, our Golf MK2 back to its birthplace.



Luke stayed in a hotel near Dover overnight as he came much further than us Londoners.
He was driving his newer 184ps Scirocco TDI R-Line.

At the Dover ferry port,
Jerome and I catch up with Gaj and Luke in their Sciroccos, for the journey across the EU.





Jerome gets familiar with Luke and Gaj on the boat.



After a bit of a blast to the port, all is well with JENVEE.
With the EU light beam deflectors fitted, we were ready to hit the E40 at Dunkirk.



However, we had a diversion. Hugos MK5 TDI did not want to play ball, so we altered the route to go pick him up over in Belgium.

While at his, he gave Luke and Gaj a brief glance and history of his FSI race projects.



With 300 miles left to go, we then set off from a rainy Belgium to a rainy E34 expressway that took us through the Netherlands.



As we motored on out of the Netherlands we hit the mighty A2 Autobahn!



This part of the journey would test the sustained high speed durability of my ABF powertrain.
Time to put the hammer down and see what this ABF car could do at full chat



all fully legal of course!

If fact, I was proud the 23er old timer did pretty well at a legal 110+ where we could actually keep up and stay ahead of most fast moving traffic.

At those full load conditions, the car averaged 25.8mpg. In Germany, I filled up with good stuff as well.



Of course this being Germany, meant moving out of the way for monsters like this one ->



It was pretty rainy, however the Rainsport 3 tyres performed pretty well in the standing water, with no aquaplaning whatsoever! In fact you would think it was dry!



The miles were lapped up pretty quickly and before we knew it, we were at the Deutsche Haus hotel in Gifhorn.







After our dinner at the hotel, we discussed the timetable for Wednesday. That was it for the night and we all departed to our rooms for some ZZZs

We will continue with Day 2 in the next installment

 

A proper `trip report`

I used to write long trip reports when I went to the ring and occasionally read them back even now, always with fond memories

Looking forward to future installments when you get time

 

It was a MK4 in the engine plant (although we walked) and for the car plant a sort of LPG bus like thing.

 

Thanks for sharing this guys.
Shame my "red" isn't finished yet sounds like a great trip.

 

Great report.

 

Nice one Edd looking forward to the rest of your adventure

 

Definitely looks like a bucket list trip for VW enthusiasts. Maybe something to pencil in for the future.

Gurds

 

Well Jell!!!

Looks like a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to more

 

Great report so far, looking forward to the next part to see what's changed in the last decade or so since I visited Wolfsburg

 

Day 2, Part 1 Autostadt, Salzgitter, VW Classic.de

Day 2

Autostadt, Salzgitter, Autohaus Wolfsburg Klassik.


The next morning we have a good breakfast. As we were small in number, it was decided to take Deakos and Gaj's Sciroccos and drive approximately 20km to Wolfsburg.







We arrive at the Autostadt and had some a few hours to burn before visiting Salzgitter at 13:30.







At the Autostadt, 2 day general entry tickets are purchased allowing access to:

Konzern Welt ( World Concerns)
Zeit Haus,
Factory tour,
Various manufacturers pavilions

We also paid a bit extra to enter the car towers on day 3 and had made prior arrangements to be on the english factory tour.

Autostadt Konzern Welt



With the tickets paid for, we were able to enter the Konzern Welt area. Gaj and Luke decided to have a bit of a play some of the the human propelled machines on display in the "Vehicle Challenge area"



Then Jerome jumped on one of the cycles with yours truly following and we had some crashes.



After thrashing these toys we went to the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] level - The CarDesign Studio.



We walked to the full sized clay model of a Golf MK7 and then to the CNC Robot that was shaping a scaled version of the Golf 7.









A completed model.



Around the corner, we went to the Autowerk area, which is a fairly new section.



The area that interested us most was the full size cross sections of vehicles at different stages of assembly, frozen in time and complete with the robots and other supporting tools.





The cross sections where from from Audi, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Porsche and VW. Each stage represented:

Metal stamping - Audi A6


Material construction - Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4









Joining and filling - Seat Leon







Painting - Skoda Octavia VRS







Logistics - Bentley Mulsanne

 

Day 2, Part 1 Autostadt, Salzgitter, VW Classic.de

Final assembly - Porsche Panamera E hybrid and Golf Mk7 GTI







This cross section reminded me of Brain G











Valve lift solenoids



Close coupled catalyst behind turbocharger






There was a cinema room that was due to show a documentary about Volkswagen around the world. Unfortunately this was not working. So we went to the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] floor to Level Green floor that exhibited Volkswagens commitment to sustainability.







Once out of the Konzern Welt, we walked around for a bit a have a peak at what was in the Lamborghini Centre.

On the way there, in a glass case was this...

A 1983 Volkswagen Golf 1 GTI "Pirelli"










There was not a lot to see except a big orange LP670-4 along with the simulated sounds of its V12 on full chat.

After this we march quickly heading back to the car park to make our way to Salzgitter, VWs engine factory.

Stay tuned for that next

 

Loving the report guys!!