The streets came alive with party vibes and Exhibition Park pumped to the sound of horsepower as the Street Machine Summernats, proudly supported by Rare Spares, returned to Canberra.
Thursday’s annual Summernats City Cruise welcomed the ‘Nats to Canberra with an expanded number of cars parading in front of thousands of locals and automotive fans.
“Thursday was fantastic, the City Cruise had around 250 cars rolling down Northbourne Avenue and crowds lined the streets, it was fun to watch,” said Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez.
Despite being day one, the crowds were busting for some burnout action, with the Last Chance Shootout Wild Card Burnouts attracting a 12,000 strong audience for the tyre-frying action, with Aussie rockers You Am I providing Thursday night’s soundtrack.
Friday saw the Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine, the Dyno Dynamics Horsepower Heroes Shootout plus the Liqui-Moly National Burnout Eliminations.
The Top 60 show cars were on display in the Meguiar’s Pavilion as well as the Great Uncover, where never seen before marvels were unveiled for the first time.
Later, DJ Brooke Evers entertained the crowd and she was followed by the new prince of Australian Hip Hop, Seth Sentry.
Saturday had a packed schedule with the Liqui-Moly National Burnout Championships, Dyno Dynamics Horsepower Heroes Shootout and Federal Tyres Miss Summernats, which was won by Canberra local Amanda Beattie.
The Rare Spares Legend award was presented to Tony O’Donnell by Rare Spares General Manager David Rayner. This prestigious award in the form of an exclusive gold helmet was created to recognise the lifetime contribution to the street machine world. Tony enters the Legend Hall of Fame alongside eight other past worthy winners.
As the sun set, the party really got going with the Supercruise in the main arena, followed by a Fireworks spectacular set to a DJ Black Summer soundtrack. The fun continued with the iconic Hoodoo Gurus.
Sunday was finals day with the awarding of the most coveted prize in street machining, the Street Machine Summernats Grand Champion, which went to John Saad in his stunning 1972 Mazda RX-3.
The winner of the world’s most prestigious burnout competition, the Liqui-Moly National Burnout Masters went to Andrew Poole in his Holden Commodore after a tyre shredding extravaganza that had the crowds going wild.
The Dyno Dynamics Horsepower Heroes Shootout overall winner was Jake Edwards in his yellow turbocharged Holden Torana that achieved an incredible 1782hp at the rear wheels.
The surprise addition of Red Bull Racing Australia's six time V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup also thrilled the huge crowds with some fantastic burnout action.
Entrant numbers came to a huge 1952, the largest yet for the event, with crowd numbers in excess of 100,000.
“What a fantastic event. We’ve had beautiful weather, amazing cars and terrific crowds for what was another great Summernats event,” said Mr Lopez.
As the proud supporter of Summernats 29, Rare Spares had a major presence with our own Rare Spares Exhibitors Pavilion. And it was at the Rare Spares stand that the crowd took advantage of some amazing offers including a massive 20% off everything plus free shipping.
On top of that, customers had the opportunity to go into the draw to win the ultimate motorsport weekend, known as ‘Rare Experience!’ where tickets to the 2016 Clipsal 500 with flights and accommodation for two were up for grabs. Lucky winners Mark and Jane from New South Wales were thrilled to hear they had won this money can’t buy Rare Experience.
Also at the Rare Spares Pavilion, fans were also able to check out none other than John Bowe’s race winning Touring Car Masters Holden Torana and RSP Director David Ryan’s famous FJ Holden.
Summernats 29 has proved once more that it is the premier automotive event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and Rare Spares are once again proud to have supported such a great and iconic Australian event. And just like car enthusiasts right across the country, we can’t wait for Summernats 30!
