Sand Sport fans know September means hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of enthusiasts descend on Costa Mesa for a huge three-day UTV show.
If you’re reading this site and happened to be in California this weekend, there’s a good chande you went and checked out the Sand Sports Super Show. Held this year from September 14th – 16th at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California, there was no shortage of cool gear and awesome off-road rigs. Let’s check out a few of them.
Leading up to the show, companies like Polaris and Can-Am introduced new machines in a bid to grab a few headlines, as did Yamaha and Textron. The latter crew not only showed off the Wildcat XX LTD, a naturally-aspirated 130 horsepower bruiser, but also previewed a new UTV they’ve been working on with Robby Gordon. Said to be the platform that’ll spawn a Baja machine from the company, it looks to be designed as a foil to the Polaris RZR XP Turbo S, given that the thing has a 72-inch stance. We’ll know more – including power numbers and price – later this year.
Speaking of Polaris, they kicked things off ahead of the show by debuting a four-place version of the XP Turbo S, called the – you guessed it – XP Turbo S 4. All of the original model’s fun bit have been retained, including its 72-inch stance and 168 horsepower. Several examples were on display at Sand Sports this weekend. Polaris says it’ll bear a sticker price of just over thirty grand.
Boots on the ground have also reported a few all-electric UTVs were being displayed, namely the Nikola NZT. This is a company that plans to sell their 62-inch wide off-road rig to the public sometime in the next year, complete with respectable (14.5-inches) levels of ground clearance and a claimed 20-inches of suspension travel thanks to 3.0” Fox Podium shocks. Promising at least 90 miles of range on a full charge, the unique properties of electric power delivery have led the company to boast numbers of 590hp and 722lf-ft of torque. These numbers may only be for an instant, but one can be assured the thing will go like rocket. Their presence at the show is promising.
Yamaha had a 2019 YXZ 1000R on hand, yet another entry into the performance off-road game. This brute id powered by a 998cc triple, routing its power through a five-speed sequential shift transmission. That gearbox is available with either a clutch and stick or flappy paddles, by the way. This two-seat blaster can spin those three cylinders all the way up to its 10,500rpm redline as the 29-inch Maxxis Bighorn eight-ply rubber chews up the earth.
Be sure to check out the Sand Sports website for more coverage of this entertaining weekend.