The XR4Register - European Ford Event, Holland Weekender

Day 3 - The XR-RS Show (Sunday 10th Sept)

Early Bird - An early start it was and breakfast was arranged 'especially early for our crew. Whilst some had their toast and edam, some of us had to get our 'XR4 Register Club' stuff together and place it in the cars. Everyones cars packed and bellies full, it was finally time to travel to the European Ford Event.

Organised by the XR-RS Club, it was now in its 15th year and since 1999, its been held at a large sports stadium at Langdarf, which was fairly close to our hotel. We got there early and were orderly directed to a holding car park to await our turn to get on our allocated space. Silverstone could learn a few things from this lot ! 8.30am and a phone call later, Chris Donkers, our contact from the XR-RS Club came along and greeted us. We followed him in convoy and was led to our stand. It was an empty almost barren place as not many were there at that time.

X marks the Spot - As Pete 'Doh' was in his TVR (our support vehicle) we decided to place that on the back of our stand and somehow show that we were the XR4 Register. It was time to create a wall of XR4's on the front line! Yes, time to hear those words... Forward, no back a bit, no a bit more, right... woah ! The line up was: Left to right. Jaffa's XR4x4 2.9 BM (bling machine), John Mc's XR4i 3.0 TT Nessy Monster (ZX 300 powered), Bhav's XR8, Gengis's XR4x4 2.9 twin turbo, John Bell's 2.0 XR4x4 and Pikey's Merkur XR4Ti

Whilst Andy took the long 'hike' to get us lots of water for our Flag pole base, the bunting was unfurled, the Flagpole was set up and the stand was beginning to look presentable. Not that it would have mattered much as right from the start, our stand was getting a lot of interest from the other car clubs. With the stand setup, all that remained for our boys was to do a bit of 'spit and polish'!

The line up Left to right. Jaffa's XR4x4 2.9 BM (bling machine), John Mc's XR4i 3.0 TT Nessy Monster (ZX 300 powered), Bhav's XR8, Gengis's XR4x4 2.9 twin turbo, John Bell's 2.0 XR4x4 and Pikey's Merkur XR4Ti

Busy ? - Everyone took it turns to walk round the show, rest and have a snooze ! Bhav held the stand for most of the day and answered questions by the inquisitive european public. Not surprising as we had 7 totally different XR4's on our stand. A blinged up 2.9 XR4x4, 3.0 ZX powered XR4i, a genuine XR8, a Twin Turbo'd 2.9 XR4X4, a standard 2.0 XR4x4 and a modded Merkur XR4Ti. There was a heck a lot of people walking round our open stand. At one stage there was a wall of people and the only way you could make out that it was our stand, was the fact that our banner was flying high ! Even Pete Doh's TVR was a point of attraction all the way at the back of our stand ! We had a visit from one of our Euro members, George Nielsen who was well impressed with the different cars we had turned up in.

The Show - As this was our 1st visit and primarily the main reason for our 'Euro Road Trip', we didn't know what to expect. We wasn't going to be disappointed as yesterdays 'Nurburgring' experience was well worth the trip ! With car clubs from all corners of Europe, we were sure to see cars that we just wouldn't in the UK. At first it looked like a small event as one could see the whole show from virtually anywhere within the grounds. There was a lot of empty spaces after the show opened and we were getting a tad worried. But cars clubs were coming in at dribs & drabs throughout the latter part of the morning. By 11am, the grounds certainly looked full.

Apparently this year the show focused on 30 years of Fiesta and there was some very nice displays. Having said that, there was lots of VERY nice displays from all the Ford car clubs in attendance. We spotted a few Clubs from the UK and also XROC. We didn't have to send a search party to meet Tom & the boys to say hello as their stand was directly opposite ours !

The show was laid out well with: A concours section with some fabulous cars on display. There was also a 'sprint' section with a difference. Not 0-60 but 0 to 100 meters ! Trust us its not an easy slog ! Having seen some seriously modded cars, going through 3 gears before crossing the line, it brought into perspective as to how fast they may be traveling ! Although a we were tempted, it was concluded that the cars deserved a well earned rest after the 'ring' experience !

There was a designated traders & auto-jumblers section too. Not as many auto jumbles as other shows in the UK but they all seemed to have something to tempt you to part with your Euros ! Even more tempting considering that even the UK traders were selling stuff cheaper here than they were in the UK. How do they work that out ??? It seems that this is a well supported show by the local Ford dealers and also Ford too as part of the central stadium was dedicated to them. There was a fine display of all the modern machinery Ford make and one stand was especially breathtaking; It had a genuine AC Cobra, a genuine GT40 and a brand new Ford GT !

At around 5.30 pm, there was a queue of cars waiting to go home and we decided to chill out to let the traffic die down. Guess somethings never change as we were bound to be the last lot to leave ! as the traffic cleared and every one mucked in to pack our stand up. Bhav spotted an ideal area where a group pic would be taken. It was all systems go !

Group Pic - Once all the cars were lined up, the camera was set on timer and Bhav had just 10 seconds to run and get into place ! He cut it fine a few times and the results were well worth it ! We were joined by 2 of our European members too. George Nielsen and Heiko Hacker with their XR4i's. Congratulations to Heiko who incidentally got 1st place in Concourse in his class ! Their profiles will be on our website soon.

Farewell ? - It was time to leave and head back to our hotel. An eventful day from the European Ford Event which was well organised by the XR-RS Club. Thanks to all those that made us welcome to this our first outing here. Thanks also to Chris Donkers from the XR-RS Club. We hope we get an invite next year as some of us are already looking at the exchange rate !

We got back to the hotel and a gathered at the bar. Everyone was happy with the show and all that remained was for us to have a meal and have a few drinks ! As Gengis and Andy were leaving at 5am, they would not be at this evenings obligatory drink back at Bhav's room after the bar closed. We wished them well as they went back and packed. Sadly Pete & Lisa and John Mc & Glenn were leaving the following day too but they would leave later and they managed to have a few rounds with the rest of the crew. Once again, the drinks were flowing and yarns were being spun till the early hours.... day 3 over.