Before Waterfest started, I had my predications. With the current economic situation, especially with ludicrous fuel prices, I guessed the attendance would suffer. After day one, the show was more quiet and less crowded than the previous times I've gone. I was hoping for more neck-breaking cars that would blow my mind away. There were a few here and there which you will read about, but I think this year has gone a touch softer in the Euro scene.However, there were still plenty of good highlights about Waterfest including new trends and new parts for the market.
On the first day, I typically cover the vendor and tuner area. First, I was impressed with C2 Motorsport's R32 turbo kit. Sure the car and the engine bay still look stock, but the story behind it inspired me. A dealer from Denver, CO delivered a stock R32 to C2 so they could develop a turbo kit. This dealership, then purchased a fleet of R32s so once C2 was done, they would outfit all the R32s with the kit. Here's the best part - the turbo would be warranted through the dealer! This will hopefully bring new life to the Mk5 R32. I wish more VW dealers would support the aftermarket like this one...
Another highlight was in the Kinetic Motorsport booth. Kinetic displayed a demo of its new 1.8T kit. This excited me because this kit is scheduled to go into Project Silverstone! The kit will come with a 50-trim turbo and include all the hardware. For 1.8T owners who just want to buy the exhaust manifold or other parts, Kinetic will sell everything piece by piece as well. It's based off owner Shawn Van Neer's 337 that was featured in et 7/08. Shawn claims over 400whp with a larger size turbo but using the same kit components.
This Waterfest was the first time I had the chance to talk with TMTuning. I was thoroughly excited to find out how much rare OE Euro parts they carry. They've really found a niche in the Euro market to offer products that many of us are begging for.
Hard luck story goes to 20squaredtuning. As the exclusive distributor of Eurojet parts, the Eurojet trailer broke down on its way to Waterfest. Several crates of new parts were meant to be on display and for sale but UPS lost its shipment!
Not just new parts, there were plenty of tuner cars which caught my eye. Cory Sterling's daily-driven Corrado VR6 looked pristine on copper-plated Abt wheels with a matching copper intake manifold. The Rado also has pulled fenders and smoothed bodywork.
A couple cars represented Falken impressed me which included Matt Kleck's big turbo 20th GTI and Kyle Duqesnay's show-stopping Mk4 Jetta.
In the end, I think Unitronic brought out the craziest of cars. Two Mk2s with full R32 swaps and there was even a Mk2 Golf with a 2.0T FSI swap! Talk about extraordinary!