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From YourSITE.com Events Coverage Being the biggest brings both good and bad. As the the giant you’re not only the leader, you’re also the litmus. Few would argue that Waterfest is the biggest Audi and Volkswagen enthusiast show in the States, and as a result many eyes were turned on Waterfest 15 as a gauge to how the wounded economy had affected the state of the German automotive hobby.
For the last decade Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, has been home to Watefest. The venue is close enough to NYC to tap into what has traditionally been the show’s biggest spectator pool, while the grounds are extensive enough to provide support for the event’s autocross, burnout competition, drag racing, dyno competitions, sound off, judged and non-judged show fields and a massive vendor area that’s a cornerstone of the event. Indicators leading in to the show weekend might have been cause for concern. The forecast was uncharacteristically free of precipitation, but the stormy economy showed a pre-event vendor row map that appeared a bit more sparse than usual. When Waterfest re-opened show field registration (something that typically sells out immediately) there may have even been more cause for concern.
Saturday is typically the more casual of the event’s two days. There’s no judged show field and there’s more of a get-together atmosphere. Were people to minimize cost, this would be the day to miss. Perhaps not surprisingly then, there was a slightly smaller crowd than in past years. Many tuners and even Volkswagen itself had opted for smarter, less costly displays, but if this was the worst of it then things looked good. Casual conversations with vendors suggested the business was still there. No, people weren’t opting for big-ticket items like Stage 3 turbo upgrades, but more low pricepoint items were stilly flying out the door according to several vendors.
By Sunday, things were back to Waterfest as usual. The non-judged show field filled quickly and the vendor aisles jammed up. Walking the judged show area our gut told us there weren’t as many cars, so we conferred with Eurotuner’s Sam Du, a guy with an encyclopedic understanding of show cars who we caught studiously taking notes on many cars. Sam says the quantity may have been down but that the quality was definitely up. Our impressions were certainly in-line with Sam’s summary. The presence of Audis at Waterfest this year was just slightly off, though that wasn’t for lack of trying by the many enthusiasts who chose to wave the flag just the same. And there were certainly standouts amongst them.
Most every model of the modern era was represented, and we were particularly impressed by cars like a first-gen grey market A3 with VR6 swap, a twin turbo V8 Coupe quattro from Cape Cod and its 5-cylinder twin that was ripping up the dyno and the dragstrip… even with a full interior!
There were just so many we loved, but if we had to pick a car for a Fourtitude Editors’ Choice award then we’d perhaps give it to the unknown owner of the grey B7 RS 4 parked for a moment next to the Dahlback Racing tent. The car was ever-so tastefully upgraded with full European spec steering wheel and factory Recaro shell seat swap. It was slightly lowered, though not slammed, and sat on real polished HRE monoblocks… its only none OEMplus element and perhaps one of the best looking aftermarket wheels available today by our estimation.
A nod also has to go to the various Audi enthusiast groups that, as usual, helped the four-rings maintain a strong presence at Waterfest. Audiworld had a booth in the vendor area complete with the new Audi Q5 and several reader cars. AudiZine did its traditional tent train in the non-judged field surrounded by readers cars. We at Fourtitude took our traditional boothspace in the vendor area adjacent to Volkswagen’s corporate stand and displayed our Audi Exclusive painted S5 and an R8 heavily laden with leather and carbon fiber option packages.
As for the final show tally, we ran into show organizers who wandered by the R8 in our stand late on Sunday. Word was that attendance was spot on with 2008 at 21,000 visitors. Perhaps Sam’s assessment isn’t far off in even a more macro sense when it comes to Waterfest. Perhaps a down economy has helped separate the wheat from the chaff. Those who weren’t as serious may have stayed home, but the stronger players remained be they show car owner, vendor, racer or whatever. New faces and admitted Waterfest first-timers who swung by our own display showed that there’s still a strong element of growth that should not be forgotten.
This week, magazines like Newsweek are touting the recession as over. That may or may not be the case, but if you were to use Waterfest as a litmus then most indicators are positive. We look forward to next year’s Waterfest 16 then, when we fully expect a new attendance record to go hand in hand with an event that will then be old enough to drive.
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