Speed&Design Fair in Utrecht, Holland

[Tom Nas <tnas@euronet.nl>]

Hi all,

I'm slightly ashamed to tell you that I've visited the Speed&Design fair
here in Holland today. Ashamed, 'cause this fair (all about car upgrading,
be it optical or mechanical) is aimed squarely at the
more-disposable-income-than-brains set, and surely enough, the main visitor
profile was early-20s, shaved head, piercings, tattoos, listens to house
music and has a bimbo-type girlfriend. Great, just what I was looking
for... but in between the deafening industrial-type music, I found a couple
of nice items, too...

A!AvantGarde finally has a Dutch distributor. I'm still trying to get hold
of their price list, but did manage to get some of their brochures, for
example one of the V8-powered A3. Yes, A3. This monster car has a 0-60 time
around 4 seconds and a price you wouldn't believe.

I also managed to get Koni and Zender catalogues, as well as some Jamex,
Sebring and K&N stuff. Anyone interested in specific Audi/VW fitment info?
Drop me a line and I'll check.

Besides the ubiquitous BMWs, Civics CRX, Porsches (converting '70s 911s to
993 spec is very popular here, as it turns out) there were also a fair
number of Audis. Most were some sort of demo car for ICE kit, installed
craftily in the original panels without resorting to too much hacking. A
very neat, slightly  lowered Cabriolet sported a new design of custom-made
hard top, fitted with leather headlining. Ahem.

Playing with all sorts of ICE stuff (the A4 makes for a very nice hifi
room!), watching the display of historic Ferraris (50 years of Ferrari was
the theme), having some fun on the F1 simulators etc. made for a good
afternoon out (especially since the admission was free, courtesy of a
well-connected friend). On the way out, I noticed a very rare beast: the
first RS2 Avant I've ever spotted here. Driving slowly by, I loved the
sound of its engine and the distinctive RS blue paint. This is definately
my dream car... yeah, right, dream on.

The drive home (should take 15 minutes) cost me an hour and a half, in a
slow-moving convoy of Max Power-type GTIs of all kinds. Listening to my
stereo was impossible, as the Peugeot 205 GTI in front of me had decided to
turn its 'music' up so that my modest 4X25W was unable to compete. Next
time, I'll go by train. The battered nose of my Audi came in handy when
fighting for a place in traffic, though...

Tom
1988 80 1.8S (no Speed, little Design) 214,000 km, matt-black front end

 _______________________________________________________________________
 Tom Nas                                          Zeist, The Netherlands
 tnas@euronet.nl

    Time is the best teacher.  Unfortunately, it kills all its pupils.
                                        -- Hector-Louis Berlioz