This year’s Kreuzerfest was an unknown quantity. We’d been working with Volkswagen of America to again use its Herndon, VA headquarters as the starting point for our caravan to Waterfest 15. Things had come together last minute and the word got out late. Inevitably, we were concerned about how many would make the journey with us, and how many would share the breakfast VWoA had provided.

Despite the promise of storms and the threat of rain in the air, we were delighted to find a crowd of people gathered and ready to embark.

 Before leaving, we took a wander around the new corporate headquarters of VW and Audi North America. The purpose-built offices are fronted by display space on the ground floor for the latest products, including accessories. We also find a small relaxation area off the main floor. But this was only a brief distraction before tucking into the breakfast bagels and fruit generously provided for registered Kreuzerfest participants.

Fed and gathered in the parking lot, we were given a brief welcoming speech by VW personnel, including Andres Valbuena, who was again the driving force behind VW’s involvement.
We then set out on the journey to Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ – once again the site for Waterfest 15. With a brief stop for lunch along the way, we were surprised to see the group stay pretty tightly packed on the freeways, causing a certain amount of consternation among the regular traffic but it all passed off without incident.

Although we’d been unable to secure the traditional road course finale to Kreuzerfest ’09, a few lucky individuals did complete some laps of the track after all, rounded out another memorable drive to the biggest VW show in the US.

We managed to capture some highlights of the drive on video and we’ll be posting it here on our Video page at www.eurotuner.com as soon as we’ve had a chance to edit the footage.

You can also read about the cruise in more detail and see plenty of photos from the day in the October 2009 issue of eurotuner magazine.