Events Coverage
Event Coverage: Waterfest 12
By by: George Achorn, photos by George Achorn, Anthony Garbis and Jamie Vondruska
Jul 20, 2006, 21:08

It’s hard to believe that Waterfest is now in its 12th year. To put that in perspective, a baby conceived at the first year’s event would now be heading off to middle school. That’s enough to make any of the oldschool Waterfesters feel aged, especially if they’ve been around for all of the years at various community colleges, dusty venues and more recently the colossal Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ.

Those who only have been part of the Raceway Park era would think that Waterfest got its name from the torrential downpours that have drenched the show over the past three years. Saturday of this year’s event featured the gratuitous rain shower, and attendees probably prayed for rain on Sunday as the thermometer’s rise seemed unending.

“Water” in the Waterfest name actually comes from the “water-cooled” differentiator between water-cooled and air-cooled Volkswagens. At the time of its inception, there were plenty of enthusiast events in the North East for air-cooled Volkswagen owners, but few for those with more modern water-cooled versions. Audis have always been part of the Waterfest event though, but never to the magnitude of 2006. More Audis and Audi owners attended this year than ever before to our well-trained Waterfest alumni eyes… and we’ve been attending this show since 1995.

If the temperatures were hot, so too were the cars. Waterfest always marks a diverse mix of Audis and VWs, from daily driver to show car and even museum piece if you happened to visit the Volkswagen garage.



That’s right, Volkswagen had a serious official presence this year, arriving in Englishtown early to build their own garage in the center of the show, complete with its own basketball hoop. Numbers of Volkswagen staff and executives were on hand to greet visitors, though the star of the garage had to be the unpimping queen Helga of recent VW GTI television commercial fame.

With Volkswagen becoming a regular, the question remains whether Audi will take part as an official participant in the event. We know they’re aware of Waterfest and curious about it. Some of their staff even attend, though nothing official has yet to be determined according to any of our sources.

Another huge draw for Waterfest is the aisle after aisle of vendors. It’s a veritable mall focused on parts and aftermarket upgrades for Audis and Volkswagens. Virtually all the major players in the field are represented here in some way, shape or form, and it’s “the place” to catch the latest products. You’d be hard-pressed to find so much for your Audi in one place, though we challenge the used part sellers to bring out more Audi-specific parts next year.



If the range of vendors was wide, the show field even dwarfs that. A4s and S4s of every generation are the most popular Audis at Waterfest, though there’s always a decent selection of TTs, and A3s are now showing up in larger numbers. Even some of the most recent releases find their way to the track. We spotted no less than six new RS 4s and four Q7s.

Two of those RS 4s and one of the Q7s could be found at the Fourtitude stand. An Imola Yellow RS 4 from Audi and an Avus Grey RS 4 from our good friend Rodney Primus at Anchor Audi sat alongside our Four Seasons S4 Cabriolet, our new Project S4 and the only Titanium Package A4 S-line we saw at the show, the latter lent to us by a good friend from Audi Canada’s product planning department who came out for the show.



It would seem the older though, the rarer. We’re not sure if it’s a matter of weekend’s heat, the cars’ age, rust, or something else entirely, though older cars seemed thinner in number than previous years. Examples on hand were still cool, though one Ur Quattro, a few 4000s and two V8s left us hoping for more next year.



One feature of Waterfest always a draw for power brokers is the dyno contest. With a thrilling show of power, 034EFI blew the old Waterfest dyno record with an as-recorded 1013 SAE HP. While the exact figure will be debated on the forum questioning the dyno model and drivetrain loss formulas, there’s no denying that this is a very impressive number.



Walking near 034EFI’s booth in the vendor area, we were stunned to see an RS 6 Avant in the Shokan stand. We first mistook it for the car that had been converted from a North American sedan, though Shokan reps quickly showed us this was the genuine article complete with full Recaro interior. It seems a Texas businessman legally imported the car through NHTSA, then had an engine-killing dance with a deep puddle. Shokan picked up the pieces, fixed the car and it now sits amongst their fleet.



One of the hardest flag waving Audi businesses in the vendor area in regards to booth vehicles was the New Jersey-based dealership Riverside Audi. This local dealership boasts being the largest Certified Pre-Owned store in the country and their selection of modified Audis also showed they’re quite progressive when it comes to tailoring cars to their customers’ specific tastes. Alongside a bone-stock S4 25quattro was a lowered Q7 rolling on 22-inch wheels, an A8 also on 22s, a Sprint Blue RS 4, a red A4 that was a close lookalike to STaSIS’ own touring car, a grey A3 with complete Nothelle widebody treatment and, our favorite, a white A3 with a blended Nothelle treatment also featuring oldschool Audi Sport rally livery. On Sunday the white A3 was moved to the Audiworld stand and boo hiss to them for removing the Fourtitude decal from the car’s livery.

Speaking of Audiworld, they also showed a yellow RS 4 and Q7, along with a mean-looking C6 A6.



AWE’s stand had several Audis, though many walked right past those menacing looking machines to check out the company’s new V8 supercharger system. Developed in cooperation with GIAC and VF-Engineering, the system uses an Eaton M90 supercharger, cast intake manifold with integrated air/water intercooler, GIAC software and AWE exhaust. Initial estimates put this system at about 470hp at the flywheel and expected cost is about $8,000.



Also fond of modern V8 Audis, particularly in RS and S guise, is NY state-based Stratmosphere. The company proudly showed off their latest arrival, a black RS 4, fitted with their new Milltek exhaust system for the RS 4. As if that wasn’t show of enough power, the RS 4 sat alongside a brand new Porsche Carrera Turbo.



Over at REVO, we found a couple of cool show cars. A rare British Racing Green B6 S4 sat next to a black A3 owned and modified by one of our forum users RyanA3 and the subject of a project over on Audiworld. The last car, another B6, was one of the most heavily modified Audi show cars on hand. We spotted the car Saturday night at a local Chili’s where owners were congregating. We ogled at the super clean detailing of the car’s rear brake light Audi rings moulded into the deck lid and operating much like the glowing rings on the back of the Audi RSQ featured in the Will Smith movie iRobot.

As a title sponsor for the show, APR also showed up in grand style. The usual tour bus transporter/ display tent was accented by a row of show cars featuring their latest products, XM radio DJ, models and even a virtual GT video game unit.



As usual, the evening festivities in various parking lots in the Englishtown area were also hopping with activity, though a stronger police presence than previous years kept the hardcore hooliganism in check.

Of course, every Waterfest wouldn’t be complete without the usual lineup of activities. There’s the autocross, burnout competition, drag racing, aforementioned dyno contest, judged show field, non-judged exhibition field and so, so much more.

If you only have time for one enthusiast show on your summer calendar, Waterfest may be it. Just about anyone who’s anyone in the industry currently chooses to attend, including Volkswagen. Enthusiasts come in on their own, or as part of either organized packs such as Eurotuner’s Kruezerfest or as part of a convoy of avid enthusiasts. Either way, it all amounts to a grand weekend-long bash that shouldn’t be missed.

There’s a forum link down below. If you think we missed something in our highlights, and we’re sure we probably did with so much to see, then please drop us a note and let us know what we overlooked as we don’t wish to leave anything out.

For more discussion on this story, click on the link to our discussion forums to the left.	For more photos of the car in this story, click on the link to our gallery at the right.

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