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The first part of our Inters '03 series is a review supplied by forum member richandhazel. This was Rich's first GTI show and he was not going to be disappointed!
"In all the years that I have lived in Yateley, 3 miles from TRL I had never been to GTI International. My only disappointment about the whole weekend (once we found my camera that is) was that I’d never been before.
The convoys on the way to the show really wet your appetite for what to expect and the show was not to disappoint. The first thing that impressed me was the car park that stretched almost as far as the eye could see, packed with gorgeous cars. I could have spent at least half the day just walking round it. I gather last year, the car park was in a field so this must have been a hell of an improvement. I also thought the tractor rides were a great idea, especially if you had bought some bulky items from the trade stands or autojumbles and had got to the show early. I reckon your car would have been at least half a mile away!
  
Next we came across the sprint track, wow, we must have stayed there and watched that for a good hour before we even thought about doing anything else. And what about later on in the day, the Dubsport and Dubweiser cars! I’ve never seen anything accelerate so fast 0-60 in 3 seconds! They were definitely the highlight of the sprint, if not the show.
We kind of had to try and find our way around as we didn’t get the show guide on Saturday, got some on Sunday and it made a lot more sense of it all. I thought there was plenty there to offer, many bargains to be had if you looked around. It was nice to meet up with Mark (harr1s) outside the exhibition hall and on Sunday we met up with Lee. Great to finally put some faces to names, real shame we missed John (jv), it was only by a few minutes too.
  
Hopefully next year we’ll meet up with many more and maybe even have a club area, eh John? Who knows with the way this forum is growing. The show ‘n’ shine was good, I went round that a couple of times admiring the effort owners have gone to in keeping their cars looking so nice, plenty there to see too.
Apart from the ‘Dubs’ on the sprint the other highlight of the day for us was watching Ben (87_PROJECT) in the Yokohama tyre testing. He did really well putting in the second best time of the day in a totally unmodified Mk2 (apart from the drilled airbox we fitted earlier, which certainly sounded good) . He spent most of his time on 3 wheels and was certainly good entertainment for us all.
  
Then there was the campsite and the beautiful open country roads leading to it. All very well organized, plenty of facilities, hot food, a bar (Ok if you like Carlsberg, fortunately we had brought our own Stella). The campsite was like a show in itself and we did enjoy just walking around, admiring the rides and chatting to the owners.
The weather was better on Sunday. I managed to sunburn my face, much to the amusement of friends and work colleagues, who still don’t believe I did that in Ipswitch. I expected to see more cars in the Concours and was a little disappointed with the poor turn out there. But I have to say, that what was there was really impressive, I doubt my photo’s will do them justice.
  
There were loads more on offer in the autojumbles and Ben managed to find a good cheap set of alloys and a K&N panel replacement air filter for a fiver. Our man didn’t disappoint us today either, he had a go at the sprint and went in for the tyre challenge, again putting in a great effort and achieving the second best time of the day.
Journey home was interesting. We like many others turned out of the queues and headed into the open country side. Probably added another 4-5 miles to the journey but we kept moving and there were some great roads. Like the journey there, loads of conveys, great stuff.
  
This is the first such event that I have been too and it certainly won’t be the last. I thought it was very well organized and that AutoMetrix deserve all due credit. However I do suspect that I have been very lucky and spoilt that this is the first event I have been too and it could be a tough act to follow, only time will tell. The only improvement for me would be to move it back to TRL, but that’s because I live right next door to it.
A point worth noting, if we go back to Bentwaters Parks again next year, its well worth filling up with fuel before you leave the A12 as its quite a trek back, as we found out on Sunday morning."
  
Rich, 15/05/2003
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