The weekend of July 21-22 the Car Audio crew made the trek up to northern Cali to attend a much anticipated event. While the 500-plus mile drive was rather monotonous (the only excitement provided by the garlic fields and the thousands of cows along the way) we were looking forward to reaching our destination, the Santa Clarita Fairgrounds for the Extreme Autofest.
The guys behind Autofest not only have passion for the Import scene, but also great enthusiasm for the car audio industry, and embrace the competitive nature inherent in the sport of sound-offs. Of all the current California Import Lifestyle events, Autofest appears to have a firm grip on bringing these two worlds together.
We arrived on Saturday in the afternoon to scope the lay of the land and set up camp. From all the years of going to shows, you learn the unwritten rule which someone always forgets (but they learn): TIE YOUR TENT DOWN! Sure enough, upon minutes of our arrival, the wind barreled through the courtyard, picking up a big white elephant that took a wild swing at both a showy Honda S2000 and Accord. With the swift flick of its fangs it inflicted these sweet birds with fairly major abrasions. Fortunately, the destruction stopped there
As the sun rolled out on Sunday morning, the line of spectators began to build. Topping the Autofest bill were BFGoodrich, Transworld Stance Magazine, MOMO, Tenzo-R, Wild 94.9, along with the two-cent comedy act of CA&E. Not only was this an Import car show, there was a more than a handful of other sideshows for viewing (e.g., RC car races, a skating demo by Justin of Think skateboards, B-Boy competition, DJ competition, Bikini jam, and a dB Drag Racing event). Audiobahn came out in full force with several demo cars and tons of products for display. Soundstream, which has seen a recent re-birth this year, hit the stage hard with their awesome air-bagged truck that was recently on the cover of our brother magazine, "Truckin." The local Motorsport Dynamic crew was on hand and caught many an eye with Sparco Race seats incorporating custom monitor housings on the back side in an all out show-and-go Integra. MAS Wheelhouse along with ASP (Auto Sound Performance) had several examples of feature-quality autos from BMW to Mercedes. Just outside the main hall, Diablo Autosports displayed a metallic orange Mustang that had some trick interior and stereo installation features that utilized some serious fiberglass.
The Import show scene has been steadily growing with audio/visual products. Nearly every vehicle now has some sort of monitor and DVD or VCR for a greater visual effect. Just as high on the agenda is the integration of game systems. Sony PlayStations made their way into nearly a third of the vehicles on display and, yes, Gran Turismo 3 is the hot ticket of choice.
The day's event went exceptionally well. The turn out of vehicles was above and beyond what was to be expected. We hope Autofest will continue their efforts to bring both the Import and car audio scenes together along with the excitement of the various activities.
Footnote: On Sunday, July 22, 2001 the Car Audio & Electronics crew was out at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in San Jose, California. Car Audio & Electronics held a drawing for a 12" subwoofer and goodie bag from Eclipse by Fujitsu Ten. The crew would like to congratulate winner Franklin Cabbat of Hayward, California!