Club History
(Established 1982)

The club was formed in 1982 by a group of like-minded Volkswagen enthusiasts. The first meeting was held at Ferny Hills, on the 7th November 1982. The first edition of Volksword (the official club magazine), edited by Hans Gess, was printed the following month.

The first committee members were -
President - Dianne Watts
Vice President & Points Scorer - Paul Bernardin
Secretary - Daphne Gess Treasurer - Kate Bedendorf
Social Secretary's - Dave Elliot & Tony Wilmot
Editor - Hans Gess
Training Officer - Alan Harbort

The following club meetings were held at QEII, on the first Tuesday of each month.
The program for the years activities listed -
A day with Formula Vees
Four cars to be entered into the Motor Show
A weekend as guests of the VW Buggie Club of Bribie Island
BBQ's
Rallies
Swap Meets
Raffles
Recruiting new members
Training Sessions

A Points system was established in January 1983 as follows-
1. Each member present at a general meeting gets 5 points
2. Members who introduce new members gets 5 points
3. For being a helpful and active member 2 points
4. General condition of your vehicle e.g. road worthiness, -5 to +5 points
5. You may lose up to 20 points if involved in an accident.
(This list is not complete, but gives you an idea of how it worked)

Australia Day Weekend (1983) Observation Car Rally with the familiar sound of VW's echoed through the hills of Beaudesert and Ipswich. The local cockies couldn't believe their eyes seeing so many VW's in their rugged territory. It was an invasion of the only kind - the VWDCQ. Maybe we couldn't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but we proved that we can go where few others have dared to drive. The rally and site, chosen by our President's Paul & Wendy Bernadin, was to their credit. It was like a home away from home with all amenities except the kitchen sink. I was happy to see the girls put foot to pedal and show the men we can keep up with them or at least give it a go. Besides being a lot of fun the precision driving was a good experience, so fear not pedestrians. Our editor Hans Gess and secretary Daphne were there on the scene capturing the action on their movie camera - hopefully this footage will be shown at our next meeting. (Written by Dianne Watts)

The club members attended their first "National Bug In" in Sydney at Easter 1983.
The events were listed as -
Friday pm - Social get together at Col Andersons house in Fairfield.
Saturday Coach trip to Blue Mountains for the day.
Sunday Motorkhana at Plumpton.
Sunday night presentation night.
Monday recover from the weekend events and travel home.
( "Bug In" is now an annual event, when Volkswagens from most parts of Australia come together, to meet socially and/or take part in events. This was started as an interclub motorkhana in 1958 in Tumut, NSW, and at the same year at Mt Gambier, SA. The following year at Wagga Wagga and Mildura. 1960 saw all states compete for the first time. The Victorian Club were the most active participants of this event.)

The first Fancy Dress was held on the 28th May 1984, and was won by Hans Gess who dressed as a clown.
Official Sponsors of the Club were Automart - Stones Corner, VW Parts & Service - Woolloongabba, and Volkswagen Engine Centre - Redland Bay.

Wayne Ferguson joined the club in April 1983 and is still a current member.

This Club History was compiled by Sonya Gambold from the Club Magazines.

11th ANNUAL JAMBOREE FAST FOURS & ROTARIES (click here for photos)
This event is the annual Drag Racing day, held at Willowbank Raceway, and was held on Saturday, 16th June 2001.
In 1991 this event was started by the Volkswagen Drivers Club, to promote drag racing in small engine cars. The club members actively involved for the Inaugural Drag Day on 10th March 1991 were, Dave Butler, Mark Stanbury and Ray Box. The day was open to all four cylinder and rotary cars. The VWDCQ club hired the raceway for the day and it turned out to be a great success. The following is a quote copied from the clubs Volksword magazine the following month, written by the President, Mark Stansbury.
"With the Drag Day, 10th March 1991, we had an incredible response, as most people heard by word of mouth and not by advertising. The response by individuals was great and the most common statement was "no V8's". The rotary people said they had not seen so many rotaries at any one event yet, and when was the next one? Our response about next years event, if we have one, was met with a request, almost a demand for another event."

This is how the event "Australia's Biggest one day Four Cylinder & Rotary Spectacular" began. The Club ran the event for the first three years, then Ray Box and Mark Stanbury, took up the option put to them by the Club, to manage and run the event from 1994 onwards. They formed their company called "Small Car Productions" to promote and run the day. The Club members volunteered to work on the day, and the Club was paid for their help, thus began our biggest fund raising day, with many club members actively involved with racing and helping out.

This year the event was coordinated by our President Sean Maysey, who deserves a round of applause for his great effort to make everything go smoothly. Thank you Sean, along with Sean, on the Friday afternoon, Colin Gambold, Ian Dalglish, Ross West, Wayne Ferguson, Graeme Haynes, Nathan Gambold and five of his friends, all helped to set up Trade Stands, tents, bunting and signs for the next day. Ten of those people camped there overnight in the near zero temperatures. Ask Sean how cold it was. Saturday saw Grahame Rumballe, Roger Dewar, Ray French, Dallan Mulley, Ross West, Geoff Lawless, Chris Honan, Justin Radloff, Loiuse Bool, John Brose, Colin, Sonya & Lisa Gambold, plus two of Seans friends and those who stayed overnight, all work hard at their various tasks. Thank you to everyone. The Club provided food and drinks, Wayne took his Kombi camper, BBQ, fridge, cooking gear and was the chef.
The crowd of twelve thousand passed all previous records for attendance. People came from all the states and some flew over from New Zealand for the event. Some of the entries were from Mazfix who used three car carriers, Peak Performance with ten cars and Tony Rigoli Performance with ten cars. There were sixty one trophies to be won and twenty six of these included prize money.
The Volkswagen Winner of Lowest ET registered VW (Street Trim) was Gunther Davis in his black Manx, with a time of 13.146 seconds / 100.8mph.
The Volkswagen Winner of Lowest ET race vehicle VW was Neil Penboss in his Maroon Beetle, with a time of 10.35 seconds / 133mph. Neil's car was giving good wheel stands, but due to lack of traction on the track it became uncontrollable at the half mark, no doubt scary stuff, but he pulled up well.
Three new chassis VW cars all had problems on the day. Dave Butler had lack of traction, Rodney Penrose (NSW) had a rock through the turbo, via the air intake (there are no air filters on these cars), Dave Stoker (NSW) broke a rocker and rocker shaft, Boris Orazem (NSW) broke a gearbox and Peter Page broke his gearbox on the start line.

I wish to thank once again all those who helped at the event - Sonya Gambold

RONALD McDONALD HOUSE
The Volkswagen Drivers Club has been supporting Ronald McDonald house for since its inception. Each year the club donates the proceeds from Action Day gate takings Car Show and Shine and other events. On the 31/1/2003 club members presented a cheque to the General Manager of the house.

HOME