GTI Fan Festival Returns to Volkswagen’s Home in 2024

The cancellation of the annual Wörthersee gathering presented Volkswagen with an opportunity to “bring it home” – moving closer to the firm’s Wolfsburg HQ. Ian McLaren got a first-hand look at the new home of the GTI fan festival.

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Established in 1982 near the town of Reifnitz on the shores of Lake Wörth, Austria, the annual gathering of Volkswagen Golf GTI owners and enthusiasts known globally as the Wörthersee festival had, before its COVID-19-forced cancellation in 2020, grown to become a four-day celebration of Volkswagen Automotive Group (VWAG) products attracting more than 200 000 visitors. Dubbed “the madness at the lake”, the event’s popularity would ultimately prove to be its undoing as, despite the obvious boost to the local economy, residents of this otherwise quaint village eventually grew weary of the festivities and party atmosphere associated with this festival.

A subsequent announcement that the Wörthersee gathering was no longer welcome in this municipality saw Volkswagen move quickly to establish a substitute venue for the legion of disappointed fans; one 940 km to the north and on the doorsteps of the firm’s long-established Wolfsburg home. Under the banner “Icons Coming Home” the inaugural GTI Fan Festival attracted 15 000 paying visitors over the weekend of 26-28 July, with even more enthusiasts congregating alongside their prized Volkswagens in the venue’s parking area.

Opened in 1938, while much of Volkswagen’s original plant remains intact, the Wolfsburg precinct has grown to incorporate a so-called Autostad theme park. This impressive destination plays host to everything from a car museum to dedicated pavilions for each of the Volkswagen Group brands, as well as myriad children’s play areas and even a concert venue. While the GTI Fan Festival was centred around the accompanying Volkswagen Arena (home to the VW-sponsored VfL Wolfsburg football team), the fact that attendees could use the occasion to tour the home of Volkswagen added to the appeal of this relocated event.

A festival for the fans, it was evident from both overheard accents and the EU-type number plates attached to the cars in which many visitors to the event had travelled across borders to attend. Throughout the weekend, a broad selection of owners and their vehicles were introduced and interviewed on the show’s main stage. This included a Swede who has travelled throughout Europe in his accessorised GTI Mk1, an Austrian owner whose GTI Mk7’s air suspension lowered as she parked, and a young lady who drove her 150 kW Up! GTI from her home in England to attend the show.

From GTI-branded Adidas trainers to t-shirts, jackets, posters, sets of interior carpets, valve caps and an official Volkswagen Classic stand ready to sell you a replacement grille for any generation GTI; the show catered to all needs and currencies.

Realising the popularity and significance of the annual Wörthersee gathering, Volkswagen began using this event to showcase its wares in the form of fresh production model unveilings, exciting GTI-themed concept cars and student-led design studies. The brand announced this participation in 2007 via the extreme GTI W12-650 that housed a 477 kW twin-turbocharged W12 engine from the Bentley Continental GT behind the front seats of a heavily modified Golf Mk5 body. A display of Wörthersee-introduced concept cars and design studies presented at the GTI Fan Festival culminated in the newest ID. GTI concept, which showcases the all-electric future of this iconic hatch.

Also on display was the latest member of the ICE-powered GTI family, the Mk8.5 Clubsport, and a fleet of all-wheel drive R products. Audi’s presence at the show was showcased via the late Ken Block’s impressive S1 E-Tron Quattro Hoonitron.

Including events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed (covered in our September issue) it’s recommended that visitors to live, enthusiast-focused events like these allow time in the day to walk around the accompanying parking area.

From a row of immaculately kept Mk1 GTIs to a heavily modified Mk2 fitted with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine from an Audi TT RS donor car and countless lowered and “stanced” examples from all eight generations of GTI to date, more than 700 privately-owned VWAG cars were proudly displayed outside the Fan Festival. A highlight was the Dortmund-based tuning house Halle 77 offering a complementary dyno experience to those in attendance. Its own Mk1 GTI with a 2.0-litre 16-valve engine and Weber carburettor recorded figures in excess of 166 kW.

Acknowledging the importance of this following, the event culminated in a convoy of these owners and their cars being granted permission to drive the network of streets within Volkswagen’s vast Wolfsburg Production facility.

Including the presence of a mint-condition original Citi Golf on display in the Autostad, several broadcast interactions throughout the inaugural GTI Fan Festival drew focus on the role that South Africa still plays in the legacy of the Golf and the GTI badge.

Wearing a Springbok rugby jersey and a pair of veldskoen, a presentation on the show’s main stage by the chairperson and managing director of Volkswagen Group Africa, Martina Biene, showcased the popularity of the GTI badge in South Africa – including a demonstration of its “Vrrrpha” nickname – and the fact that Kariega is now the only plant producing the Polo GTI.

Biene also used the opportunity of her time on stage to confirm Volkswagen Group Africa’s continued support for South Africa’s own annual gathering of VW enthusiasts, the SA Camp Fest hosted every February in Bela-Bela, outside of Limpopo.

By all accounts a more controlled and less “rowdy” event than what Wörthersee had become, at the end of the day it’ll be the fans that dictate how popular and successful this relocated annual gathering will become. To this end, while I would have appreciated access to some form of translation tool for many of the show’s live presentations and reveals, what I liked about the first GTI Fan Festival – and this goes a long way towards the legacy upon which this German brand has built its name – was the sense that it can grow into a fan-focused event for the whole family.

A final takeaway is that while the ID. GTI Concept car drew many an admiring glance on the day, it’ll be the enthusiasm and buy-in of the attendees of events like this – including the SA Camp Fest – that Volkswagen will rely on once the first all-electric GTI arrives in the respective gathering’s parking area.

Find the full feature in the October 2024 issue of CAR Magazine.

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