| Greetings MMM Readers! This is Goshu from MOON GARAGE. EUROPEAN
BUG-IN II in Belgium and KIEFT EN KLOK in the Netherlands It's a double-feature
report! Last weekend, July 4 through Sunday, July 6 was the European BUG-IN II
and took place at Chimay International Raceway in Belgium. BOSS Shige-san and
I went together. | |
| Chimay International Raceway is located about an hour drive south of
the capital city of Brussels, close to the French border. The little town of Chimay,
the same place and name as the famous Trappist beer and cheeses, has an 80 year
old road circuit course. There's a strip of what is normally used for general
roadway traffic, that's been transformed into the event space with galleries,
exhibits, a race tower, spectator stand and a drag strip straight. The race track
course has a history for classic motorcycle races and events, even today. Starting
from 1926, it's been the scene of historical and classic events. It's a must see
place especially within Europe. | |
| What's normally a one-day event such as this, the European
Bug-in is a full three days making if feel extra long. However, the event had
a lot happening such as drag races, a swap meet, off road track action, a slalom
course and all kinds of varieties. Moreover, there's even camping grounds for
the enthusiastic travelers and their Type II, which is quite rare to see these
days. Participants came from all over Northern Europe, Finland, United Kingdom,
Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France and just about all the other European
countries. | | For
this event, FLAT 4 from Japan, EDWIN, CSP Product from Germany, Gasser Garage
from Scotland and CHIMAY Beer were the main sponsors with major LEGENDS from other
countries invited to attend. | |
From Japan, the president of FLAT 4 - Japan, Mr. Komori was there with an exhibit
of products and parts, plus a clean purple painted race car called "DDS" on display.
From legends to young children, it kept him very busy.
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Then Saturday night CSP threw a party and invited everyone. The hospitality
was incredible! The crowded tent was very hot although you can't tell from the
photos. | |
| From the USA, Lightning Bug owners and the first to run 10 seconds, Mark
Schley and Paul Schley were present as well as Bug-In USA promoter Rich Kimball,
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| Cal-look USA Godfather, +DKP Ron Fleming, | |
Head-up Performance-USA Roger Crawford, Bug-In USA chairman
Dyno Don Chamberlin, reporter +DKP Stephane Szantai,
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| in which he also brought a famous race car to drag. The event program
cover features a Gasser from last year, which was photographed this year. With
so many vehicles entered and the larger number of people, it was organized extremely
well. | |
| From Scotland, 5 Gassers and an Air Stream were pulled via trailer by
Gasser Garage owner Russell Ritchie. Race cars all lined up at the starting line
at the drag race area resembled something from an event held in the USA. Such
a huge event with so many VW scenes taking place. | |
| OFF-ROAD COURSE and BUGGY! This is something that you don't
see in Japan at all. At the same event, having an off-road course and street drag
racing. Then there was a lot of late model buses and even a T2D from the UK, that
was so low to the ground. You don't see too many late-buses this low in Japan! |
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| After three full days of racing was the awards. With about
as many entrants as there are stars in the night sky, and so many that were flawless,
it must have been difficult to choose the awards! |
| Race car award went to FLAT-4's DDS! Pres. | |
| MQQN PICK was a Wildman painted Moon Disc and went to RadikalBugs' Radikal
HotRodBug! The owner, Mr. Gianni was overjoyed! | |
| After that, main sponsor KOBES presented BOSS Shige-san with a CHIMAY
trophy. | |
| There are a lot of fans in Japan of RadikalBugs, which are
Belgium locals. Check out the ride height! That low and no air-sus! The best part
was when there were more than 10 vehicles lined up with the same stance. Again,
the LATE BUS was SMW favorites! Thank you very much. |
| For those MMM Readers and die-hard MOON fans, | |
| Chimay is not made just bricks but it's much older stone-built
houses and buildings. Very historic! Later that night, main sponsor KOBES had
a BBQ and again, we all had a great time! |
| After European Bug-in was finished, it was off to the Netherlands! Although
there weren't many Japanese at the event, BEEHAUS president Mr. Ueno, Strollers'
Mr. Katayama, Furuuchi, Katsumura as well as Julian from VW Magazine of France,
were all going to visit KIEFT EN KLOK. We arrived at lunch and there were 100s
upon 100s of different things to see - very overwhelming! | |
| Looks like a lot of imports from America too. Amazing! From
bikes to surfboards and neon-signs to furniture, it was to say the least, America
right here in the Netherlands! All kinds of parts everywhere! |
| This is Marcel, he is an interior specialists. With his interior sewing
machine, needle and thread tattooed on his arms he looks like he is from So-Cal
with his Dickies work wear style. | |
| The staff were all very pleasant and
we had lunch. The sandwich was of Belgium origin that looked similar to croquette. |
|
One more item! To visit Tjeerd of Custom & Classics, the Citroen
2CV Specialist! This is what it looks like to make a 2CV a HOTROD! |
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After coming to the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show and seeing
BratStyle, he became a big fan, and now makes bikes in the Netherlands! He latest
creation is narrow. | |
Here and there, this and that, before I knew it one week had past. From here,
BOSS takes the long way home by heading to LONDON. Next weekend will be the GOODWOOD
festival and NHRA will exhibit cars there including the first generation MOONEYES
Dragster that originally made a trip to the UK in the 60s. Thanks for reading
and see you next time! | |
