It’s all about the people!

[yvre]

Man what a week-end... I think we all agree this was one of the best VW events EVER…

But to me, what made EBI so great was the people. It’s the first time I’ve felt such a nice, relaxed, open atmosphere at a VW gathering. People of all countries, origins, scenes, or age classes were busy chatting to each other and generally having a good time together.

I know Kob will chime in here as soon as he comes back to officially thank everybody, but I’d like to swing the nuts of a few people personally:

Mike W, Ffred and Kob:  your hard work has paid off - you guys have made history!
Rrrussell: the air-cooled VW world needs more people like you (with more money than sense). You just rock.
Dyno Don. This guy just brought California to Europe – the event would not have been the same without him.
Ron Fleming, Rich Kimball, Arnie Mohlman, Keith Seume, Lenny Copp, Komori San: these people are like living legends to me, yet were so approachable and humble during the whole event. Very enlightening.
The Flatline Lowriders: they ran the S&S Ffawlessly
DFL: Thanks for bringing back our tent! I also think we have a lot to learn from you in the ‘organization’ department if you see what I mean…
The Outlaws: Did these guys put on a great show or what? Coolest racers in Europe period!
The people behind Cal-look.no: just mentioning the site is an excellent ice breaker.
Finally, all the participants that came from the 4 corners of Europe. Amazing cars and amazing dedication.
A special hello to the 4 crazy finnish guys who are probably still in the boat , Maxx, Martin, Mat, Monkiboy and all the others I forgot (must be the Chimay beer…)

Roll on EBI 2 !

[Lee.C]

Yvre great minds think alike I was going to start a thread like this myself  This Truely was the best VW event EVER, it was just so relaxed and friendly, I made loads of new friends even if a did smell a bit after 10 days on the road and over 1500 miles  Like you say Just mention the LOUNGE and straight away people get a smile on there face - its awsome 

So here is a special hello and thankyou to all the people I can remember - Aagin it must be the Chimay Beer or maybe the Duvel 

- Kobus and the EBI team for all your hard work and still having time to chat to a weirdo like me 
- All the guys in the DAS and at Pats VW Shop for helping us out with exhaust gaskets last monday - cheers guys
- Nico for letting us crash at his house for the night when we couldn't find a campsite there was 5 of us! - Thankyou dude 
- Jerome/Nostalgia67 for the shifter and lending me your helmet for racing and letting me sit in Small Wonder - you have an AWSOME car dude 
- JS you are a legend dude you got some wicked photos and I can't wait to hook up again and you also have a really cool ride
- Keith (Fastbrit) for putting on an AWSOME show in the Race Shop Ghia and having time to talk to me and Rob in the fireup lane
- Paul Si and Ben from Ultra VW - you guys are wicked we had a real laugh at Camberg catch ya soon 
- Lowfatbus and beetlebug I wish I had more time to speak to you but there's always next year 
- 67 indeed sorry to hear about your oil leak but again here's to next year 
- JHU FINALLY we met up! it was about time, I hope your car is reay for next year and I love those wheels you got also I hope you like you ride in the Manx - now you see what a well built baby 1641 motor can do oh yeah I am really up for SCC 
- The Italian guys who I met on thursday - you all have AWSOME rides 
- Russell for simply being the biggest NUTTER I have ever met - you are a Legend dude and cheers for lending me your helmet 

And to all the others who I met from here you guys are all awsome it was amazing how friendly and open you all were and it was a real change from the same old UK scene/shows 

So here's to next year guys  - Take care and feel free to drop me an email sometime 

[lowfastbus]

Soo many great cars and soo many friendly people!!!!!

Great to meet some off you loungers...
Monkiboy, girlfriend and friend ?Gavin? ( with the stinky helmet) you guys are crazy!! Hope to see you guys again at another meeting...
JHU nice to meet you and thanks for the stickers, maybe next year the cal-look classic with my car...
To all the others nice meeting you (again)...
Olaf, Andi, Tobi and the rest off the DFL crew you guys were friendly as always!!

Jelle

[Turtle001]

 you forget me jelle ;-) (just kiddin)

[Georg/DFL]

Hi Yvre,

yes, you are right, without the people it would be half the fun! Good to meet you and to see that not only the well known four of DAS speaking english!  Hope we have more time to speak in September at the Drag Day.

I especially enjoyed saturday evening when Jens B. and his team, Mike W., the guys from DVK and some of the Scandinaviens (I guess I forgot someone, they were quite a lot of people) came to our club booth for a chat. It's always good to put faces to the names and see old faces again.

My special thanks go to

Mike, Fred and Kobus for putting on that show
Russell for bringing all the cars
CSP for the food 
Stephan S. for guiding me through the Belgian backcountry
Keith and Sven for lending their cameras to me when the rechargeable battery of my camera was empty (you lend, I borrow )
All my friends from DFL for everything
The Oldstylers for pushing the trailer out of the mud

It was a fantastic weekend!

[TiDi]

Hi Yvre

nice to meet you also if we met at the end!!!!!

see you soon 

[LuftsickTero]

A special hello to the 4 crazy finnish guys who are probably still in the boat ,

Got back to Finland around 6AM this morning.. It was nice to meet you too Yvre!  And thanks to Pat, Xavier and rest of the DAS guys putting the PAT Open Day and Cruise together.

Big thanks to Kobus&crew about the event and all the other stuff he provided for us. Best Volkswagen event I've been to so far and very hard to beat.

Big thanks also to Russell & Aberdeen guys, couldn't believe my eyes when the truck arrived to PAT's place and thanks for the quality time spent in Gasser Garage tent.

Big thanks also to my buddy Alhoracing for putting the current iteration round of my engine together, 2400 kms and only time I had to open the toolbox was due to leaking exhaust gasket.

[SplitMan]

Totally agree - it's all about the people. Here are two that make it all happen:

[SplitMan]

Biggest smile of all...

[SplitMan]

Men at work... Thanks a million to the EBI Team !

[SplitMan]

One fast American...and the happiest German on the planet!

Indeed a memorable moment right there....Ole can fill in.

[SplitMan]

EBI ..... the place where dreams become reality....

[SplitMan]

Securing future generations to take care of the legends of today....

[SplitMan]

...while some guys have all the fun...

[SplitMan]

And some guys make all the fun.....! (What a man!)

[SplitMan]

Even the coolest Santa Claus on the planet was there...

[SplitMan]

The coolest history lesson I have ever had came from this guy - thanks for sharing Dave!

[SplitMan]

But in the end.....even though it is sad....all good things come to an end...

[Fastbrit]

...while some guys have all the fun...

You don't honestly think I enjoyed myself having to drive the most historically significant VW race car of all time, do you? I mean, get real... 

[Ole]

One fast American...and the happiest German on the planet!

Indeed a memorable moment right there....Ole can fill in.

You say it! It's still hard to find words for this!

The weekend before EBI I met Ron at Bad Camberg, he told me that he drove the Pink Panther down at Mexico City back in 1972. Imagine, that's the year I was born! Sure I asked him if he'd like to make a pass at Chimay...

I made two passes at Saturday to check the car, second pass was new personal best ET, 11.500 @ 115.4mph. Sunday mornig I checked the valves (it was raining!), everything prepaired for Ron's tracktime. I had no idea who Ron wanted to race, when he told me it's no one less than Keith Seume and the Race Shop Ghia (my alltime favorite Gasser)  I got goose bumps...

I'll never ever forget this weekend, all I can say is thank you! Thanks Ron, I'll try to do such good reaction times like you did. Thanks Russel for let us all feel (not just see!) all these awesome cars. Thanks Keith, Dyno (you rock!), Kobus, Fred, Mike and all others who were involved.

After the Awards were handed to the deserved winners, there was a very emotional moment. It's been hard to hold back my tears, fortunately I wore my big shades...

[ESH]

It sure is! The show was the best VW event I have ever experienced and was not something that could be merely 'created'. The people that came chose to come because everything was right about it from the outset and those that chose to come were mostly the 'right' people. Never mind the bollocks, it was VW show for VW people. What Mike, Fred and Kobus and all the others involved achieved was beyond 'organisation', for want of a better way of putting it was organic, it sounds crap I know but that's the only way I can think of putting it. Give me SCC's, give me DAS Drag Days, give me the European Bug-In, shows of this quality are few and far between and worth the journey. Roll on Bug-In 2008, it has to my way of thinking totally refreshed the European VW scene. No show can come close to what happened in Chimay last weekend except for one, the sequel. Those that were there were privileged to have been a part of it, I cannot think of one single highlight, the whole weekend flat lined at the top end of the 'good shit' scale. I am missing standing on Rue du Grand Prix des Frontières and taking in the surroundings and the buzz. Thanks everyone, I'd drive back there tomorrow if I could! 

[JS]

WOW WHAT A WEEKEND!!!    
I left Norway on the 20th of june for Bad Camberg and each day was a party(literally)
And the feeling when we where at pat´s and the gasser trailer came around the corner - PRICELESS!!!
Cruise night at MacDonalds, wow. So many great cars and we and Russel got there first and we got a chance to chat and check out Arnie´s old DKPI car.
Such a great atmosphere and a real international event...

Then, after staying at a hotel in the middle of nowhere outside Charlois for 3 days and nights partying and cruising around the countryside in our vw´s we went to Chimay on thursday.
Since then I walked with my feet four inches above the ground for days. It was so great to see all these cars that i´ve read about for years, and the people.....

I´d like to thank Russel AND CREW for being so kind offering shelter in the rain and pouring beer like there was no tomorrow!
We all had a blast when Arnie and his wife where there and we realised he had never read the Cal-look bible by Keith, Russel drove me down to the campsite for me to get my book wich i had with me to get Keith to sign. I thought he tried to make a 14.5 second pass with the tow truck! And the look on Arnie´s face when he got to look at the  book - just priceless. "Wow look, there´s a picture of my car"
He even corrected a couple of typos in my book and signed the pic of his car.
So did Ron, Keith, Rick and Dyno Don who made the EBI really come alive with his way of commenting the drag racing and pulling jokes with the crowd all the time.
A great guy and a real professional!

It was great so to meet Ole, Monkiboy+friends, Arnie+wife, the guys from DFL, the Outlaws, Luftsick+friends from Finland, Petter and Caroline, all of you American and Japanese guys who travelled such a long way to be there.

Thank you Kobus and crew for making this one of the most memorable weekends of my life.

I would also like to thank my friends for making this trip an experience of a lifetime. I will remember the times we´ve had for the rest of my life.
Jalle, Vegard, Therese, Fritte, Thomas, Børge, Tumo, Mags+friends, Thomas, Magnus, Rune

Cheers,
Johnny

Picture of Arnie Mohlmann of DKPI while correcting picture text´s in my cal look bible.

[Russell]

Its just great this picture !

[JS]

Hi Russel, thanks for a great time, the beers and for lending us the car for the lineup! 
What du you think about this one? Are you worshipping the book or Arnies sneakers?  

[Russell]

Both and the ground he walks on.....

What a gent, when i said he could take his car up the strip, he got up and asked for some steel wool to clean and polish up the BRM's before racing !

Pure DKP.

[Fastbrit]

What a great picture! 

[Lee.C]

Praise Be - Amen  coooooool pic JS 

[Lee.C]

It sure is! The show was the best VW event I have ever experienced and was not something that could be merely 'created'. The people that came chose to come because everything was right about it from the outset and those that chose to come were mostly the 'right' people. Never mind the bollocks, it was VW show for VW people. What Mike, Fred and Kobus and all the others involved achieved was beyond 'organisation', for want of a better way of putting it was organic, it sounds crap I know but that's the only way I can think of putting it. Give me SCC's, give me DAS Drag Days, give me the European Bug-In, shows of this quality are few and far between and worth the journey. Roll on Bug-In 2008, it has to my way of thinking totally refreshed the European VW scene. No show can come close to what happened in Chimay last weekend except for one, the sequel. Those that were there were privileged to have been a part of it, I cannot think of one single highlight, the whole weekend flat lined at the top end of the 'good shit' scale. I am missing standing on Rue du Grand Prix des Frontières and taking in the surroundings and the buzz. Thanks everyone, I'd drive back there tomorrow if I could! 

Couldn't agree more dude - I still can't get over just how good the "Vibe" was at Chimay - I want to be back there right NOW 

GoGoGoGoGoGoGo EBI2 2008 

[Stephan S]

Indeed, it is all about the people!
What a fantastic weekend... Russel's fleet of cars, the Outlaws, the variety of Gassers, the car show filled with high-quality cars, the club area (the DFL booth rocked), and so much more!
It was so much fun meeting people I had not seen in ages. Wish I had more time to speak with everybody... I would have loved to go the event without my camera, just to enjoy the friendship, the cars, etc.
I'd like to thank a few people, starting with Georg of DFL/VW Speed, who made my trip abroad possible. Vielen Dank, Georg! Obviously, Special Thanks to Mike W, Kobus and Freddy.
I'll be there next year!

[Matt H]

They dont come any better than "fast" Freddie Looks like one hell of a good time. Did Arnie have his car there or did he sell it to someone across the Pond?