Anyone who knows anything about Belgian car culture will be familiar with GR8 Magazine, which has been reporting on the local scene for over 20 years. On the back of this has come the GR8 International Car Show, an annual event that pulls in more than 40,000 spectators over two days at the start of every new summer show season.
This year was my first time attending the GR8 show, and I must say, now that I’ve been, I regret skipping previous editions. Even though I had to drive much further into Belgium (from the Netherlands) than I usually would for an event, it was well worth the effort.
The event was held at Kortrijk Xpo, one of the biggest convention centres in the Benelux Union (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The venue needs to be big too, because there’s nothing small about this show.
Eight halls were used this year, with well over 500 cars displayed between them. Of all those cars, around 100 had travelled from outside the region – the UK mainly.
Some halls were themed, with the one dedicated to supercars very popular with showgoers. That was to be expected with no less than five Koenigseggs and multiple RWB builds on display.
The air-cooled/VAG hall was partly transformed into a beach scene full of Volkswagen Buggies, Beetles, Busses and some curious kit cars.
I really liked this Berg-Cup-inspired VW Polo; its massive arches, aggressive diffuser, and ultra-wide PLS wheels give the small car a mean look.
There was a truck hall, and another dedicated to modified cars – the latter being the source of many images in this post.
The centrepiece was the Liberty Walk stand, which displayed 15 cars – the most LB cars ever assembled in Europe.
One of the newest Liberty Walk builds is this silhouette-kitted FD3S Mazda RX-7, powered by a Nissan SR20. Who wants to see a full feature on this wild mash-up?
It was very cool to see a display of modified mopeds, a scene that used to be huge in Europe. Modified scooters were a big part of my life growing up, because you could legally ride them as soon as you turned 16 and parts were pretty affordable. This was the gateway to car culture for me and many of my friends.
Next to the mopeds was a nice selection of early 2000s European tuner builds – think big bumpers, full audio boot installs, pearlescent paint and chrome wheels. You have to love that these builds still exist to remind us of what once was the height of modifying fashion. Without these Fast and Furious era builds, car culture wouldn’t be where it is now.
The crew from RevWorks, who also featured in my 2024 IAMS coverage, had a nice stand displaying some hardcore builds. They followed up this event with a little meet that I also attended, so look out for a story on that soon.
My highlight from the event was seeing some classic JDM wheels on a couple of Euro cars. Blitz 03s on a Mk4 Golf or RAYS Volk Racing GR.Cs on a Mk3? I’ll take both!
If this taste of the 2024 GR8 International Car Show has left you wanting more, don’t worry, there’s a lot more to check out from the event in the gallery below.
Collin Tiemens
Instagram: collinclicksphotos
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