Last Sunday, 27 September, the V-Dubs Club took up an invitation by the organizers of the Malta International Airshow to hold a Concours d'Elegance and an Autotest in conjunction with the Mini Owners Club during the Sixth edition of their show.

About twenty VWs took part including two VW Polos Mk 4, two VW Golfs Mk 3 as well as a Mk 2 and a VW Variant Fastback.  The group met at 11.00 am at the Splash and Fun car park in Bahar ic-Caghaq and drove to the old car park at the International Airport where we met the Mini Owners Club.  The two clubs then proceeded to Park 4 within the airport perimeter, where the airshow was being held.

There, the two clubs were directed to a specially reserved area where eventually the autotest was held.  After preparing the course, members were invited to join the Minis in what was to be the first such event for VWs locally.  Eleven members gamely submitted their names and the event got under way at around 2.00 pm.

The autotest consisted of a timed drive around a laid out route on the loose surfaces that borders on one of the airport's taxiways which was marked by bollards,  Participants, who drove round one at a time, had to go round the bollards in a stipulated pattern and anyone hitting the bollards or mixing up the route was penalised.  Each participant had two tries on each course and, although the clubs had planned four different courses, there was only time for two of them to be held.

The VW members who took part did not manage to get anywhere near the times registered by the Minis since these were somewhat more manoeuvrable and hence quicker round the course.  However, all those who took part later said they had thoroughly enjoyed the event and hoped that the club would organise a similar event in the near future.

The cars were classified in three categories according to the engines installed.  These included Air Cooled, Diesel and Water Cooled.  The categories were all hotly contested with the exception of the Water Cooled category where both drivers experienced difficulties during the first run and could not finish the tests.

The following are the final results.  The best timed run on each of the two circuits was added to give the final aggregate times.