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With a massively hectic build to Summernats, I was absolutely exhausted, physically, emotionally and mentally, so the prospect of a ten hour trip to Canberra didn’t exactly excite me. But with the car loaded onto the trailer, bags packed and a solid 3 hours sleep under my belt, I joined the rest of the Eastside crew, and headed for the open road. A relatively incident free trip to our nation’s capital, landed us at Scrutineering just before our allocated 6:00pm check in. Scrutineering was a breeze and definitely a sight to see as some of the countries highest horsepower most elite quality vehicles drove in and then drove out and up the street. Loaded with goody bags and entrant stickers, we headed to our home for the next four days of the Canberra Carotel Motel. The atmosphere at the accommodation was almost as good as at Summernats. Almost everyone at the motel was either an entrant or a spectator and there were tuff cars cruising in out and around the grounds, day and night. A bit of late night cruise action (getting lost), led to us being introduced to the local constabulary, who were most pleasant and reasonable. A quick car wash and back to the hotel for some rest. There were 5 in our Eastside Cruisers assault team. Mark, Ado, Stew, Chris and Me, as well as several other Eastsider’s also up for the weekend but staying elsewhere. Mark, Stew and I have previously experienced all that Summernats has to offer, but Ado and Chris were Summernats virgins. Man, were they in for an experience. The next few days, they will never forget. Day 1 was fairly laid back, with most of the traders and entrants still setting up, even so, the crowd was building quickly and the atmosphere was supercharged, literally! Even on the first day, there were blowers everywhere, you would swear blowers were a red spot special at Coles. The occasional sniff of half burnt methanol and rubber, coupled with temperatures in the mid thirties, meant a camel like thirst built fairly quickly. Good thing cold and tasty beverages were readily available, and generally situated in excellent viewing platforms, for watching the cars go by. Day 2, started to get serious. Camping areas filled right up and the cruise track slowed to a crawl with traffic. Tuff cars, mild to wild, everywhere! Lots of cruising, in the cars and on foot. Plenty to see and experience, the boys were really starting to get a grasp as to just how huge this event is. It was on for young and old on the burnout track with qualifying for most of the day. The trade stands were in full effect, some fantastic prices on audio and performance gear as well as awesome deals at the Meguiars stand. The elite hall was closed during the day, but opened up at night for the Top 80 show. Day 3, more of the same but with the grassed oval area full of cars. The quality of the cars on the oval was incredible. Elite level show, street and race cars covered over half the oval, lined the cruise track and cruised, both inside and outside of EPIC. Also, Dyno qualifying and Go to Whoa Qualifying was going on all day. The crowd was absolutely intense with almost 50,000 spectators entering EPIC, braving temperatures in the mid to high 30’s. These high temperatures turned the grass driving events into more of a dust bowl than a mud pit. Stew assures me that it was a heap of fun though, bolting around the car in thongs! As the sun went down, the crowd disappeared from the cruise track and gradually filled the main arena, in preparation for the Saturday night Supercruise and entertainment. Our crew used this time to head back to the hotel for a freshen up, and to prepare ourselves for the night time spectacular. Saturday nights Supercruise was huge. A seemingly endless line of the most standout and elite cars in the country, filed, three and four wide, around the main arena. At the same time, the cars eligible for Grand Champion judging, went through their events on the grass. Spectacular motorcross displays were also put on at both ends of the arena, prior the always boring and unimpressive, Lawrence legends attempt at a record setting jump. Which of course, never fails to disappoint. After all this, even in this time of drought, a massive fireworks display. Thoroughly exhausted and totally spent, it was back to the hotel for another epic drinking session and brown conversation into the wee small hours. Day 4. Sunday. Finals Day. Another day of cruising around, soaking it up. Our cars spent most of the day parked on the oval, while we sat in the packed grandstand watching the go to whoa and burnout finals. Easternats may be the best place to do a skid, but Summernats is definitely the biggest, best, harshest and most hardcore burnout comp in the world. To cut it amongst the burnout finalists, you had better use every single RPM available, not one single rev in reserve, blow two brand new tyres, have a mountain of metal hanging out the bonnet, create an ultra white smokescreen thicker than a Kinglake fog and be prepared to bring your engine home in a bucket…..minus oil and water. Blown big blocks ruled, but killer blown smallblocks and sixty grand worth of naturally aspirated Chevy, were in with a chance. Winners and losers were decided by the officials, but the hardest judges were in the stands, and they were vocal. Perform, or be gone! The official results are everywhere on the net, but the official Eastside Cruisers Judging team, drew there own conclusions. If you want to know who really won…….ask me…..I’ll tell ya. - Dave J. |