What makes Wörthersee such an incredible event to attend? Is it the jaw-dropping cars? The picturesque landscape? Or simply the people you’re visiting with? Truth be told it’s a combination of all these things, and it’s the exact reason why Wörthersee remains one of the must-visit events year after year. I mean, what other show brings car fans from as far as Poland, Russia, Spain and even American to celebrate all things Volkswagen!

But Wörthersee’s biggest charm is how it handles these car fans. This isn’t a one-day event where cars flock in before dispersing several hours later; the entire town becomes engulfed with Volkswagens, as car fans take over just about every hotel and house around the infamous lake.

Drive through the town centre? Expect to see hundreds of VWs parked up. Visit the local petrol station? Expect to see nothing but VWs parked up. You can’t even go to the local Lidl without seeing a car park full of VWs.

Yeah there’s Police presence, but everyone just wants to have a good time. So in 2017 Meguiar’s UK decided to get involved with all the action and embark on the 2500+ mile roadtrip in our Polish Interceptor show car. What better way to showcase flawless paint than with a casual drive through four European countries?

The road trip is half the fun when attending Wörthersee, so Meguiar’s UK hooked up with friends from Players Show, Air Lift Performance, Riiva Design, Rotiform and Scene-Media to embark on the journey. Seeing a single modified car on the move is a surefire way to get attention, but seeing a convoy of slammed motors tearing up the autobahn is a guaranteed jaw-dropper!

It’s a cool 12 hours driving from Calais to Wörthersee, so our plan was to spread the drive over two days stopping off in Stuttgart for some well-earned steak and beers in the evening. Little did we know the drive out there was going to be quite so eventful…

You see, it’s all well and good building cars last-minute for Wörthersee, but often this means sacrificing ‘test’ mileage when running new wheels or modifications to ensure those latest additions are issue-free. Casualty one? The Players Show BMW M3… and a carbon-fibre splitter which tried its best to leave the Liberty Walk bodykit. Nothing a bit of tape and cable ties couldn’t fix!

Never one to be outdone, Ben from Scene-Media decided his BMW’s carbon front lip also didn’t fancy lasting the trip – slamming into the ground before splitting into several pieces. Once again, duct tape and cable ties save the day.

The Riiva Design T6 was easily the most comfortable car on the journey, but its sheer size proved to be a hindrance when its wingmirror had a coming together with a seagull. To add further insult to the injury, said bird proceeded to void its bowels all down the side of Henry’s freshly-detailed van just a few miles from Calais. Anyone got a fresh microfibre?

But the Meguiar’s wooden spoon award goes to Ryan Stewart’s B10 Alpina, a car which (until Wörthersee) had shown impeccable reliability. A leaky tyre was only the start of his woes, before an unbalanced viscous fan decided it’d try and leave the bonnet via his nice new CSF radiator. The result? Three days stuck in France sourcing parts, arguing with the AA and generally wondering where his life had gone wrong. But we’ll save that story for another time…

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, even if France is a pretty soul-destroying country to road trip through at points. With the sun shining brightly, a quick pit-stop at the Circuit de Reims-Gueux was on the cards, partly to appreciate the remains of this classic race circuit abandoned in 1969, and partly to visit a Shell station for Ricci’s Mazda RX7… which then turned out to be closed.

To say the drive down wasn’t full of obstacles is a fair understatement, but it’s all part of the charm of getting down to Wörthersee… or at least for everyone bar Ryan and the Alpina. After all, where’s the fun in doing something if it’s easy? Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Wörthersee coverage coming very soon!