sand plus salt is bad - true but if there is a proper beach car wash nearby its not too bad as you drive over these powerful jets that will disolve all salt and sand off from every crevise the water can find.... it'll also test the waterproofing of your ignition system
... if well designed it'll be no problem.
I can't imagine that Daytona Beach wouldn't have some good undercarwashes. We have a 90 mile beach up north that can be safely driven from half tide to low tide... at speeds only limited by visibility - watching out for streams - as they put ruts in the sand and hitting a 2 foot drop at speed is not good!
many cars have nose dived and left their entire front suspension behind for not watching for these
Must use the undercar wash same day though - expect long term damage if left overnight!
Also - local knowledge is always of value re places to watch for. The obvious thing about beach driving is don't park on soft sand... (by the way - dry sand is always soft), following other tire tracks will give you a clue to where it is hard and where it goes soft, and if you are see soft patches coming up make sure you have enough speed and momentum to get you through the other side of it... For example - it'll take 50mph to get through a soft patch about 40 feet long! If in doubt, drive around it (towards sea is usually hardest sand - you'll get salt water but its the best last resort) or spin around before you hit it... because once in the soft it is all over if you stop or spin up the wheels.... forward momentum (or sideways
is your friend!
If you have to spin around - you'll need about 50mph at least to make a 180 turn in sand without trouble - once the momentum of the slide and forward momentum reduces to about 20mph or less you'll need to back off the power enough to stop it digging in.
If you get caught - feather throttle and try to idle it off... if those tires spin you are history, and it'll take a bunch of guys to pick a Viper up that has bellied out. I almost lost a car that way once when much younger and more stupid - like a clown, I drove when the tide was coming in, about half tide but rising - there were no houses or people for miles.... I'd been cruising around 100mph having fun after doing donuts and slides etc... when I started to hit dry and soft patches.. it was ok at first but they started to get more frequent and longer... I finally hit one that I knew was too long, so tried to 180 the car, but at 50mph my 4 cylinder car (an old Datsun 1800) was not powerful enough to flick the back around and I went from 50mph to zero under full power in second in about 90 degrees then bellied.... bugger! ...the waves lapped around my car but did not touch the body when an offroad AWD turned up and towed me out... boy did I feel like an idiot.
Having said all that - not sure I'd want my Viper on the beach - but I guess it depends upon how much the car is worth to you... if you can afford to do that - have fun!
