Bug Jam 22 Report - Friday 18th to Sunday 20th July 2008

Bug Jam is over for another year, and although it was a little chilly, we were given a fairly dry and sunny weekend to enjoy the entertainment, racing and lovely cars on offer.

View photos from Bug Jam 22 on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday Gallery pages.

BJ22 opened its gates on Friday, and the track was open for day one of the two-day Run What Ya Brung competition, where for the first time, classes were available to see who had the quickest of each type of car at the event. Great variety and spirited driving on the strip, even from the most unlikely cars, concluded on Saturday with the following people topping their class:

Class A – Aircooled Beetles
John Walklett, 1200 Beetle Ragtop, 12.85 @ 101.15mph

Class B – Aircooled Vans
Kevin Donlon, Deluxe Camper, 15.06 @ 86.33mph

Class C – Watercooled Vans
Thor Anson, Transporter, 16.96 @ 80.32mph

Class D – Karmann Ghias, Sponsored by the Karmann Ghia Owners Club
Simon Thorn, Karmann Ghia, 15.52 @ 83.00

Class E – Other Aircooled VWs
Gavin Murton, Trekker, 18.18 @ 69.69mph

Class F - Watercooled VWs
Bryn Clark, VW Beetle Subaru-power, 11.62 @ 113.27mph

Class X- Non Road Legal VWs
Nigel Hull, VW Beetle, 11.4687 @ 116.36mph

Full RWYB tables coming soon.

Friday night came round as Vee Dubbers still poured in through the gates, and the camping fields filled up. The music on the main stage kicked off with a Britpop revival followed by original new music by Happy Pill from Sweden.

Over in the two big tops, punters were either rocking out to the sounds of the 80’s or getting down and dirty with the latest dance tunes. The rain rather thoughtfully held off until everyone was safely tucked up in bed!

Saturday morning started bright and breezy, and the dragstrip was quickly dried out and started the second day of the RWYB competition. Over in the Live Action Arena, a full day of stunts and car-crushing carnage took place, with shows from the incredible Zero Gravity mountainbike trials crew, big-air backflips from the UKFMX team, drifting, donut and 2-wheeling action from Terry Grant, including a specially commissioned New Beetle stunt show, with the finale being a 5-ton monster-truck show. The arena held a massive crowd all day with the non-stop action.

Saturday afternoon saw the return of Mr & Miss Bug Jam, which has now morphed into a talent show, and it ran in this format for the first time. As hilarious and farcical as ever, it has not lost any of the old magic that made it famous. The competition was won by a genuine talent in the form of Becks, who sang Ironic by Alanis Morissette without a backing track.

Saturday night came around with a full line-up of rocking tribute acts on the Red Stripe stage, headed up by the sounds of the Counterfeit Stones. The Big Tops hosted more dance music for those that had energy left from the previous night! Over in Fuelers bar, a full night of original new music took place with live bands wall-to-wall.

Sunday morning, and Bug Jam struggled to wake itself, but the sun was once again out and showing the cars getting ready for the Show and Shine competition in perfect light. Over 150 cars were present for Bug Jam’s biggest-ever Show & Shine, and the quality and variety was once again unsurpassed. Ultra VW were given the tough task of judging the awards, but every one of the cars below deserved to take home the glassware. Beetles did particularly well this year, but there were loads of lovely Type 2s in attendance also, so thanks to everyone that turned up, you put on a great show!

This recent resto caught everyone’s attention with superb detail and flawless surfaces inside, outside and even on the underside!

Jackies bug took best of show at Big Bang, but here it got kudos for its lovely leather interior.

With loads of sporty touches like roll cage and alloys, this bug also got all the showcar attention to detail and superb finish to catch the eye with real originality.

With tasteful performance mods and a better-than-new body, this was the van everyone wanted.

Slammed to the deck for a great stance, and with a great resto on the body, this was the best of a good bunch.

This car was not only stunning in its own right, it was also stunning for its originality and all-out sumptuousness.

Air suspension, a lovely subtle glitter-paint in not-so-subtle yellow and a custom dash made this the stand-out custom at the show.

The first best engine award for a water-cooled car at Bug Jam, but thoroughly deserved nonetheless, this was in factory-clean, but with extra polish and super-tidy.

This was just a really nice car that hid its age with bright paint and a few well-suited accessories.

Ian’s car was chosen by the Back to ’89 organisers as being the best addition to the line-up, with original showcar paint and finish in untouched condition.

With 70’s copper metalflake paint, and whitewall tyres, this didn’t make sense, but in the metal it was an awesome and daring combination that was perfectly executed.

Perhaps a predictable choice, but it would have been criminal if we had neglected the finest modified Golf in the UK.

With a restored chassis but original bodywork, it was everything a good rat should be, but with the added bonus of being packed with glorious original features.

A lovely clean cal-looker with Wolfsburg performance engine and great stance.

A luscious early cabriolet with stunning detail everywhere.

With a roofchop, custom bonnet, four stinger exhausts and monster hot-rod gearknob, this was pure Volksrod.

The Mystery Award was given to the best New Beetle, as there were many in attendance at the show, and a very different style of show car to both the aircooled cars and the early waterpumpers. The winner was equipped with cool Bonneville-style moondiscs and aero bodywork, a custom interior and two-tone paint.

Taking place on-track were the finals of the drag racing. With a great variety of classes and superb close action, you could be forgiven for staying on the bank all day, and the winners were as follows:

Thanks to everyone who made it along to one of the biggest and best Bug Jam’s ever, we hope you had a great time. Thanks also to all the magazines that support the event, all the sponsors, especially Red Stripe and Auto Glym, and all the staff, racers and entertainers that help make it happen. Most importantly of all, thanks to those of you that bought tickets and made the journey. See you next year!

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