When Ultrace announced they would be hosting an event in Germany, especially Düsseldorf, the local scene was in an uproar. Düsseldorf is locally known for police that tend to have no sense of humour when it comes to modded cars. ‘A car show in Düsseldorf of all places?’. The locals expected the show to end with lots of impounded cars.

In addition, there was also a bit of an outcry regarding ticket prices. And, no sugar coating, the ticket prices did seem very expensive at first glance, starting at 85€. Especially considering that with the rather mysterious marketing for the event, no one really knew what to expect from Ultrace Germany.

What the folks at Ultrace delivered in the end however, can only be summed up with ‘a class of its own’. This wasn’t your typical car show. This was a celebration of all things automotive, a rather complete slice of the whole automotive scene. Modified cars scraping the ground? Check. Hypercars? Affirmative. Prototypes? Sure. Racecars bristling with heritage? Ab-so-lutely. And police problems? Nothing. They kept a watch out for people acting out, but largely there were no real conflicts at all – a pleasant surprise to the locals!

The venue, Areal Böhler in Düsseldorf, is an old steel mill that has been turned into an event location and the show could not have found a more fitting venue. The faded brickwork of the factory provided the perfect backdrop for the gleaming paint and chrome of the cars. Where other shows would have crammed as many cars as physically possible into the location, the folks at Ultrace went for quality over quantity. Each car had multiple meters of breathing room, so you could check out all the details. 

The event was segmented into multiple areas, with the star of the show clearly being the main area. As soon as we entered the room, our jaws hit the floor – this was nothing like we had imagined. This was truly on another scale. It was so far removed from a regular car show, that we’d even hesitate to call it such. The result was more akin to a pop-up museum or art show, with the cars as the art pieces. And not only were all the cars placed in a very aesthetically pleasing way, but the sheer selection itself was mind boggling. There’s likely not another car event in the world where you find yourself ogling a beautiful Bugatti EB110, then turn around and see a slammed Toyota Cresta next to an aired out Escort Cosworth and then your attention gets pulled in yet another direction as the folks from BMW Classic are starting up the X5 Le Mans and giving it some revs – a mad concept from the early 2000s where they packed a V12 race engine from a Le Mans racecar into a X5 SUV. They pulled out all the stops and got some truly legendary cars at the event – all in keeping with their ‘Archived Dreams’ motto. 

The second big warehouse was filled with more down-to-earth private tuner cars only, the stuff that made Ultrace what it is today. This is where the majority of the VAG cars at the show could be found, too. Of course, with our main interest being VWs, we would have enjoyed seeing a bit more of them at the show, but overall the selection of VAG cars was still pretty spectacular. Speaking of things we would have enjoyed at the show – both BMW and Mercedes Benz pulled out some of their legends from storage and brought them into some amazing displays. BMW Classic had their own room, where they displayed a few cool M3 concepts – E36 M3 Compact, E46 M3 Touring and E92 M3 Pickup. Mercedes in comparison went for more racing heritage and brought out a few legendary race cars like the Sauber C9, CLK LM and CLR. We can only dream of what a VW display along those lines would have looked like… Maybe some day. 

One room that deserves special mention is what they called the ‘143 bpm’ installation – a small room, acoustically damped with foam padding on the walls, a huge colour changing light panel on the ceiling, a 143bpm soundtrack and smack in the middle was the HWA Evo, the ultimate restomod of the 190E Evo 2. The whole experience felt like a cyberpunk-esque fever dream. 

All in all Ultrace Düsseldorf left us reeling – no one expected this. They came out swinging and they did not miss. We’re glad we got to experience this incredible benchmark for what a car event can be.