Sand Sport Supershow 2005

by Tim Gaasch

Last Friday I was looking through my magazines and noticed the Sandsport show would be held this weekend. This late notice put me in line with all of the other family activities for a Saturday, but we did manage to get to Costa Mesa by late afternoon.

This was my first visit to the show that is now in its seventh year. The primary focus of the displays was high travel sand buggies, quads, and trailers. The show and shine or "Bling" was almost overwhelming as each vendor proudly displayed there finest work. As an engineer I could understand the choice of many materials for the light weight and physical properties. As a racer I can also appreciate the ease of access to suspension and motor. I do not completely understand the intricate detail and multiple levels of paint on all parts. The billet components are nice but the fine scroll work and engraving on suspension parts make it hard to believe that they would soon be subjected to the sand blasting environment of the dunes.

Don't get me wrong, I do like some shine on my vehicles. I chose my components with large smooth surfaces and few nooks and crannys. This helps speed up the cleaning process in our continuously dirty environment. I have an ongoing discussion with my old school engine builder as I try to convince him that a race car can be shiny too. All practicality aside I did think that they looked very nice.

There were plenty of quads and related aftermarket parts available at the show. This is an odd area for me because I typically cannot leave anything alone. The standing rule that I cannot modify my wife's car seems to apply to the quads as well. We have plenty of fast vehicles to satisfy our speed cravings so the quads are left as stock and reliable. With the quads and buggies aside I now focused on the trailers.

We have a small 20 foot enclosed trailer that I can pull deep into the dunes to avoid the mayhem of the beach on a busy summer weekend at Oceano. I added a kitchen, bathroom, heater, A/C, TV, etc. so my wife and kids would come "camping" with me. I originally focused on a small trailer so I could move around easily. Since then we have brought our friends into the dunes with there 37 foot split level condo also known as a three axle Weekend Warrior. The kids are getting bigger and our trailer is getting smaller so we spent some time looking at the new trailers at the show. We quickly moved to the largest trailer in the group to accommodate the jeep, dragster, three quads, and still have room to move around. This all looked good on the showgrounds however it might be a bit tight to store next to the garage. Maybe we will hold off just a little while longer before stepping up to a 17,000 GVWR trailer.

We had a short busy day at the show and I will definitely make more time in my schedule to attend next year.