I’ve been lucky enough to attend plenty of car meets over the years, from taking my own Volvo C70 Coupe along to Tartan Tarmac meets back in the day, to heading to a whole host of events across Scotland. Every one of them was fantastic and enjoyable, but since the C70 went off the road, I’ve found myself attending fewer and fewer events. When I decided to head to Coventry to study at university, I knew I had to find a way back into the car scene. And that’s where DubClub comes in.

I thought I knew what to expect from your typical car meet. A few rows of impressive cars, people gathering to chat about their cars and what they had done to them, the flash of lights from a multitude of different cameras and just a nice, chilled-out vibe. DubClub over at Fargo Village in Coventry was anything but ordinary. It truly was something else entirely.

One of my university lecturers told me about DubClub, having pretty much immediately picked up on my interest in the automotive side of journalism. What he forgot to mention, however, was what I should actually expect. You see, Fargo Village isn’t exactly a huge place, all things considered. Tucked away just off one of Coventry’s main roads, it’s also surprisingly easy to miss if you don’t know where you’re going.

I did try to go last week, but unfortunately it was cancelled for a comedy show run by the BBC. It was unfortunate, but we, as journalists, move on. I will say, though, I was chomping at the bit to get to something that related to the massive car culture you find here in the Midlands and in England as a whole. I was honestly counting down the days.

Over the last week, we have been getting into the photographic side of journalism, something I’m really interested in. See, for the last 10 years or so, I have owned a Canon 1300D DSLR camera that I have used at a plethora of different events. When I started packing everything up from Scotland, I just knew I had to pack the camera and the lenses it came with.

I knew that when DubClub returned, I had to go along for myself and get some decent shots of the cars that turned up. Over the preceding couple of weeks, I had slowly but surely been buying and booking a whole array of camera equipment, from lenses and tripods to audio gear, all in preparation for the event. More than anything, I wanted to immerse myself in the car scene again, surround myself with like-minded people, and put the journalistic skills I’d been developing at university to the test.

When I was walking towards the event, I could sense that something big was about to unfold, but I was not expecting something as major and as insane as a DubClub meet. There was the beautiful smell of petrol in the air; the music was bouncing off the walls, and people were everywhere, all sharing one thing in common: our love for cars.

Regardless of race, religion, age, gender or even job status, we were all there for one thing: to talk about one of the finest hobbies going — our very expensive, but very well-loved, vehicles. This was my first time attending, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Despite that, I was welcomed with open arms, even though I had walked to the event.

DubClub was originally set up more than 20 years ago by a guy called Tony and a few of his close mates, during the infamous Max Power days of UK car culture. Like many of the larger car events this country has to offer, it started small, with meets being held in a handful of local supermarket car parks. Slowly but surely, the numbers grew, and DubClub has evolved into the event it is today. There have been a few different locations along the way, but its home is now Fargo Village — a beautiful little spot for an event like this.

Its origins are deeply rooted in the ever-popular ‘Dub’ scene here in the UK, so it’s no surprise to see plenty of heavily modified Volkswagens in attendance. However, DubClub is far from exclusive, with anything and everything welcome, regardless of the build. There’s something on offer for everyone, and that’s genuinely refreshing to see — especially when compared with many other events across the UK.

One of the things I absolutely admired about the event was how close-knit it is. This isn’t some overtly large event that feels both large and empty at the same time. In some ways, it felt somewhat gritty. When I say that, I don’t mean it in a bad way at all; in fact, the complete opposite. The event gave off old-school Need for Speed vibes, and I’m all for that!

This was an event just for us, rather than something put on for the outside world. It’s one of those occasions where, as the saying goes, if you know, you know. If you don’t? Well, tough luck! Go find another way home, Pizza Boy!

Jokes aside, I’ve been to plenty of different car events over the years, and I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. But honestly, none of them has quite come close to what DubClub manages to put on.

I really didn’t know what to expect, and I wasn’t informed of how crazy it was going to be. When people around me told me that Coventry is the mecca for Automotive-based events and history, they certainly weren’t lying. This place is jam-packed with everything automotive. Don’t like the smell of petrol in the air? Go be a hermit. This is a place where petrolheads can congregate and not feel ashamed to share our passion with others.

If there was one thing that I took away from DubClub, it was that car culture thrives on the unexpected. I mean, where else could a Rover SD1 Vitesse, a Toyota Century V12 and a Matchbox-stickered Porsche ‘930’ 911 share the same space? That eclectic mix is precisely what made the evening so awe-inspiring. I arrived expecting a generic car meet. I left wondering what I might find at the next one.

By Alex Jebson