The Golf 8 GTI experience

I have had the privilege to go to the Volkswagen #GTI8onTour at Fourways mall on Saturday morning. I had to complete the challenge of the game I had to download that afforded me the opportunity to race the GTI on dark city streets to compete for an entry ticket for the event.

I had fun playing the game but it was no easy task and I would like to congratulate the guys that completed the timed stage in less than a minute, I doff my cap to you all.

The event was an experience, from loud music by the DJ to the faint sound of exhausts popping, tire squealing, excited people and a lot of sanitizing. The area used gives the impression of an underground car show with friendly staff and indemnity forms to sign. The entrance has two Golf 8 GTI 's on pedestals ,one black and one red. I sign in with the complimentary ticket received and show them my driver's license. After the registration is completed I am handed a bottle of water and a smile.

The 1st experience, Seeing the VWSA heritage fleet lined up, I posted them on my instagram feed @Thrust_BEE, they had a very pretty MK1 GTI, Followed by a white Mk2 small bumper edition, The Golf 3 looked good but my and most passers by was drawn to the Golf 4 GTI-R standing on lowered suspension in silver, looked menacing, thinking about the R32 that came in this Mk4 but was never brought to SA. Obviously I compared their MK5 GTI in Navy blue to my own Silver MK5, the best version of the GTI, to theirs and I believe in my heart, I have the better example, Sorry VWSA, I just do. You can prove me wrong, send me a mail thrustbee@yahoo.com or DM me on Instagram to prove me wrong.

The Mk6 GTI was also very pretty as it was the 35 edition, the MK7 was the TCR which is a limited edition and a very pretty car, alongside that the Mk8 GTI in metallic red, Looked fantastic, my second time being able to walk around it but not yet sure what the inside holds. Next step, Most fun by the way of the event, sorry spoiler alert. I had to stand in a que whilst we wait for the 3 GTI's racing along the shopping center parking for our turn in what seems to be a pretzel shape track set out for the cars.

All the drivers are Volkswagen South Africa Advanced driving course instructors and look as cool as Ice when I jump in the passenger seat of the Navy Blue GTI. I am wearing a sanitized helmet with a white hairnet that makes me feel like I am flipping burgers at Mcdonalds again ( story for another time).

Our driver is in a happy mood and you can see that is enjoying his job. He lines up on the grid. There we are in second place on the grid, time stands still for about 20 seconds whilst he switches off the annoying ESC, (electronic stability control). Side note, I imagine that every time the vehicle is switched off or detects no key it reverts back to the normal setting? Something to explore. The lights go out and with a quick squeal of the tires the car sets off on the slippery cement in the parking lot. It is dark inside the P3 parking but the lights on the side of the track and the headlights illuminates the track properly. From the word go the driver(wish I can remember his name) is on it, 1st corner we are accelerating hard and quick dab of the brakes for the 1st entry, the 2nd corner he is seeing us smiling and nudging him on for some better lap times, 3rd corner the car slides and he catches it in a nice drift, forcing the front wheels to steer the control. The car performs very well with the little traction available and he enjoys the support from the 3 passengers. He allows the car to slide a bit more on the next turn but again catches it nicely and slips quickly into nice tight line for the next corner, then that was it. Quick fun and exhilarating, getting the blood to flow a bit quicker with a dash of adrenalin, He smiles and says one last slide before dropping us off at the start. HE loves his job. What a gentleman. Thank you to the unnamed driver.

The next experience after getting out of the car and hearing the DJ's music is a virtual experience, unfortunately crazy line and not really something I wanted to do as the 100 m dash was the reason my license had to be checked and damned if I leave here and not get to drive the car. I check out some of the VAG club vehicles parked, there is a Golf 6 GTI with such a huge Turbo on it with no induction kit straight air to the turbo. Can only imagine the power of this thing.

The exit up the parking lot to the outside world where bright sunlight invites me to the more audible sound of VRRPHAAAA and tire squeal. i walk passed a concession stand and a celebrity Marius Roberts before seeing a line up of some more GTI's up the ramp, coming to the top of the ramp, the 1st thing I see is the Blue GTI racing car gleaming in the sun, on the roof of Fourways mall. There is another white example of the MK8 GTI and to the right the 100 m dash strip.

Two GTI's are racing up and down the 100 m dash with an advanced driver in the passenger seat. I take a breathalyzer test and get the OK to go do a quick drive. The instructor advises we can adjust the seat but no need, the dude that went ahead of me is more or less my height. I get the quick, put it in sport mode tour and then get asked to line up. The car has got displays everywhere, a bit different from what I am used too. There are way to many settings and buttons to look at in the line up as there is a time limit, or actually, it feels as if there is a rush as people are queuing up to do this run. My advanced driver tells me, whenever I am ready hit the accelerator until I hit the little bump created as a marker, to then hit the brakes and that is it. The car pulls off slightly sluggishly with all the systems turned on as there is a bit of tire squeal and we are off. A quick second or two and the time to hit the brakes. I must say, on the return the instructor says you can boot it again, but the run is so short that the car just starts to get going and then you have to stop. No fun, need to have more time in the car.

I have entered the competition to win the car for a week. Let's see if we can win that and i can provide a more in depth review of my findings of the car, maybe run it with my MK5 and give a direct comparison. That would be Amazing. Please VWSA.

And that concluded my exciting trip into the world of the #GTI8onTour experience. I walked to the merchandise store and was tempted to buy something, a coffee cup a T-shirt. But I realized the key holder and the water bottle I already own as bought for me by my Girlfriend in December of 2020.

I would like to drive this car more and would really like to take you on that journey with me.

As Always Enjoy the Journey.

ThrustBee