Southern Worthersee 2011 heats up the south with epic turnout

Posted: 24 May 2011 11:42 AM PDT

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

Gallery after the jump!

To put it mildly, Southern Worthersee 2011 was insane! The U.S. “festival” that pays tribute to the Austrian Worthersee Treffen, has once again doubled in numbers. From 200 cars in 2007 to roughly 800 in 2010, the last we heard about midday, Saturday, was 1500. Word on the street is that the number was around 2400!

On the day of the Rapture, the field across the river was a godsend. Owners of the property opened it up to the SoWo event and H20Tuning. This only means 2012 will be epic!

Southern Worthersee 2011, APR Motorsports

Our trip started late Saturday morning. The drive up was rather quiet as most dubbers were already chillin hungover in Helen. To celebrate the 5th Anniversary, APR Motorsports threw a “Taste of Germany” on Friday evening.

When you enter Helen, GA you are immediately greeted with Germany. The town was built in the late 1960′s at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Tight, twisty roads lead you into town and down to the river where SoWo takes place.

We hit town around 10:30 and we’re bombarded with VAG enthusiasm from all corners. Although it did get hot later in the day, the weather was perfect. There was no single way to approach the show, but to just jump in and tour.

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

The Mothership known as VWoA (Volkswagen of America) made a big effort to show their support for SoWo and the fans. For the first time, we got to see the Golf R on display but next to it was a MKVI Golf TDI sitting on 19″ O.Z Ultraleggera’s. The Golf also had a nice paintbrush, flag livery going on.

Some of the top names in aftermarket parts, apparel and tuning showed up to offer their goods.

APR Motorsports, Unitronic and Revo were on hand with power upgrades.

eurowise, Black Forrest Ind., Forge, Air Lift and more were camped out, offering parts and help on taking your dub to the next level.

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

dubkorps, klutch, coolstickersbro and others kept you clothed and your ride stickered.

Sprinkled in-between all these vendors were the cars! From the expanding air-cooled segment to the newest MKVI’s, it was on display. Audi’s numbers were not that high and we believe the TT had the most shows.

Wheels and stance are all the rage! rotiform has taken the scene by storm but BBS RS and RM’s made a strong showing. Ronals were also present and always killing it. We saw one set of Mercedes Alphard 5-Hole’s and an Audi A4 running huge Bentley Continental GT wheels.

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

You just can’t bolt wheels on without words like stance, poke, camber and stretch making it into the conversations. You name it, it was on the ground scrapin’ and pokin!

We were really stoked to see a number of VW Rabbit Pickup’s on display. Volkswagen produced these in Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1982. A Good number of Harlequin Edition’s were also present and on point.

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

One of our favorites was the Air Lifts battleship gray VW Corrado on black Sparco Drift’s.

The “Merchmobile” was present with its contrasting rust against polished Porsche Fuchs. Another standout was T.A.P’s Rabbit GTI racer. We don’t have much info on it but it reminds of the MK1 GTI Series in SHIFT2.

Southern Worthersee 2011, Helen, GA

We could go on forever about all the killer rides and people but we’ll let the gallery preach it. If you see a shot of your car or would like to use, hit us up.

Huge props to H2O Tuning, all the sponsors and the town of Helen, GA. Here’s to and epic 2012!

Gallery: Volkswagen at the 2011 NYIAS

Innovation At Work: All-New 2012 Passat

Posted: 24 May 2011 10:27 AM PDT

Oneighturbo VW Chattanooga Passat 052311

Video after the jump!

Get all the details about the Chattanooga plant where the all-new 2012 Passat is built, directly from Frank Fischer, CEO of Chattanooga Operations and Don Jackson, President of Manufacturing USA.