Summernats (a portmanteau of "Summer" and "National"), is an annual car festival held in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

since 1987, except 2021. Summernats, which is usually held at the start of the year, is the best known specialist car enthusiast festival in Australia, and an event which attracts many tourists to Canberra, bringing in excess of $20 million in economic benefit to the ACT economy. It has increasingly been promoted as an event for families. The Summernats spectator attendance record was set in 2017, with 119,184 attendees. Summernats is held over a four-day period, with many events, with

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

s in competitions such as for burnouts, parades of cars around the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

at night and two outdoor concerts held on Friday and Saturday nights. The festival features many vehicles with

airbrush An airbrush is a small, Pneumatics, air-operated tool that Atomizer nozzle, atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint but also ink and dye, and Foundation (cosmetics), foundation. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is c ...

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, and restored and modified

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

History

The first Summernats was held on 31 December 1987.

Promotion and partnerships

Between 1987 and 2009, Summernats' promoter and organiser was

Chic Henry Chic Henry, born Anthony Robert Henry (15 December 1946 – 14 April 2022), was a car enthusiast and the founder of the Summernats motor festival in Canberra. He was the Summernats director between 1988 and 2009. Life and career On 15 December ...

. Henry sold Summernats in 2009 to a new company called Summernats Pty Ltd. The naming rights sponsor of Summernats is Street Machine magazine, and the presenting sponsor is Rare Spares. The ACT Government has expressed its strong support of Summernats, praising the significant benefit it brings to Canberra's economy. The Summernats spectator attendance record was set in 2017 with 119,184 attendees.

Venue

Summernats is held at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), corner of Flemington Road and Federal Highway, Lyneham. In 2022, during Summernats 34, the burnout pad grandstand was officially named in honour of Summernats founder Chic Henry.

2021 COVID-19 impact

Summernats 34, which was due to take place in January 2021, is delayed until January 2022 due to EPIC being used by ACT Health as a COVID-19 testing facility until at least the end of November 2021. A new, reduced capacity, 5,000 maximum versus the usual ~100,000 attendance, ''"Summernats Rev Rock ‘n’ Roll"'' festival was planned to run over the 5–7 March 2021 Canberra Day long weekend to tide fans of the car festival over. However on 13 January 2021, this new event was also cancelled.

Awards

Many awards are given during the course of the festival.

Grand Champion

The most prestigious award is the "Summernats Grand Champion". * 2022 Jason Mansweto * 2021 NONE * 2020 Todd Sorenson * 2019 Rick Werner * 2018 Grant Connor '67 XR Falcon 'Bad Apple' from

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, ...

* 2017 Mark Williams * 2016 John Saad * 2015 Nathan Borg * 2014 Henry Parry * 2013: Mick Fabar from

, with a 1967 Ford

XR Falcon The Ford Falcon (XR) is a full-sized car produced by Ford Australia from 1966 to 1968. It was the first of the second generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XR), the luxury-oriented version. Overview The XR series was i ...

sedan; * 2012 Ben Sargent * 2011 Peter Fitzpatrick * 2010 Joe Lore * 2009 Darrell Leemhuis * 2008 Rob Godfrey * 2007 Zoltan Bodo from

Ngunnawal, Australian Capital Territory Ngunnawal () is a suburb in the district of Gungahlin in Canberra, Australia. The suburb is named in tribute to the Ngunnawal people, the original inhabitants of the area. The suburb was gazetted on 24 April 1992. Ngunnawal is adjacent to the ...

, with a 1992 VP series HSV Senator; * 2006 Aaron Fitzpatrick from

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...

, with a gold 1969

Datsun 510 The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1973, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. The 510's engineering was inspired by contemporary European sedans, particularly the 1966 BMW 1600-2 &mdash ...

sedan. * 2005 ** Deby and Gary Myers from

Narrandera Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...

NSW, in a silver 1966

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

coupe; and **Dave Ritchie from Dapto NSW, in a green 1965 Ford Falcon XP Hardtop. * 2004 Drago Ostric * 2003 Mark Course * 2002 Peter Fitzpatrick * 2001 Anthony Fabris * 2000 Shane Burcher * 1999 Peter Fitzpatrick * 1998 Peter Fitzpatrick * 1997 Howard Astill * 1996 Peter Fitzpatrick * 1995 Dennis Laing * 1994 Brian Willis * 1993 Peter Fitzpatrick * 1992 Howard Astill * 1991 Howard Astill * 1990 Rob Beauchamp * 1989 Rob Beauchamp * 1988 Rob Beauchamp The Grand Champion award was introduced at Summernats 6 - with Peter Fitzpatrick being the first recipient (the first of Peter's six Grand Champion awards). Prior to this the top award was; Top Street Machine Overall.

Miss Summernats

* 2005: Tanya Lazarou, from Sydney * 2006: Bree Fenton, 19, from Sydney * 2007: Jenelle Smith, 19, from Canberra * 2010: Hayley Swanson, from Wodonga * 2012: Sabrina Damiano * 2014: Danah Wheatley * 2015: Monique Dognan-Smith * 2016: Amanda Beattie * 2017: Jazmyne Wardell

Show and Shine

The Summernats holds one of Australia's most prestigious Show and Shine events. Vehicles from around the nation use the Summernats to announce their arrival on the Australian scene. There are the following categories: * Real Street, Street, Elite and Tuff Street * Top 60 cars, Top 20 cars and Top 10 cars * Top Judged Elite and Top Judged Street In addition, there are some awards that are highly coveted amongst the Australian vehicle modifying community: * Master Craftsman * High Impact * Artistic Impression * People's Choice

Air brushing

Custom Air brushing is also celebrated at the Summernats, where an exhibition occurs in the Meguiar's

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

Driving events

There is a multitude of awards handed out to entrants in cars, which are in the following categories: * Burnout Championship and Burnout Masters * Driving events * Heads-Up Go to Whoa * Best Cruiser * Horsepower Heroes

Horsepower Heroes

In this competition cars are bolted to a device that measures horsepower at the wheel hubs. During the course of the Summernats, many awards in different categories are handed out in the 'Dyno-cell' and power readings of over 3000 hp at the wheels have been registered. Summernats Horsepower Heroes Results: 9 - 1996 Anthony Fabris VL Walkinshaw 325rwhp 10 - 1997 Matt Bunton HQ 454 Van 372rwph 11 - 1998 Jason Gray HSV GTS 404rwhp 12 - 1999 Jason Gray HSV GTS 486rwhp 13 - 2000 Rob Vickery VS Commodore Ute 527rwhp 14 - 2001 Todd Wilkes Giocattolo 850rwhp 15 - 2002 Rob Vickery VS Commodore Ute 1023rwhp 16 - 2003 Eddy Tassone VH Commodore 1376rwhp 17 - 2004 Brett Waine VH Commodore 1470rwhp 18 - 2005 Eddy Tassone VH Commodore 1259whp 19 - 2006 Craig Munro, TRYHRD VX HSV Clubsport 1262rwhp 20 - 2007 Trick & Mansweto, Ford Capri 940rwhp 21 - 2008 Craig Munro, TRYHRD VX HSV Clubsport 1895rwhp 22 - 2009 Lyle Lemon MRPSI, 1533rwhp 23 - 2010 Adrian Abella, FPV Typhoon 869rwhp 24 - Graham Longhurst, HZ Holden 891rwhp 25 - Jake Edwards, Torana, 1592rwhp 26 - 2013 Jake Edwards, Torana, 1666rwhp 27 - 2014 Michael Daniels, Falcon XR6 Turbo 1131rwhp 28 - 2015 Jake Edwards, 2084rwhp (qualifying) 29 - 2016 Jake Edwards, 1783rwhp 30 - 2017 Jake Edwards, 1663rwhp 31 - 2018 Paul Allen, 1010 hp 32 - 2019 Brenden Medlin, 2483 hp 33 - 2020 Maria Passos, 2202 hp

Controversy

A crash at Summernats 2006 injured a number of people (various sources indicating four, five or six). Street cruises were stopped after the 2005 Summernats, following crowd control issues, however thanks to the support of the ACT Government and several years of exemplary crowd and entrant behaviour the City Cruise was re-introduced in 2014. The City Cruise is the first driving event at each Summernats and was limited to 300 entrant vehicles, however this was recently raised to 400. However Summernats spokesman Chic Henry was quoted as saying "The situation could be compared to so many other situations in life where people may have been having a bit too much fun, maybe having a bit too much

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

Sexual harassment of women

In 2008 and 2011 mobs of men allegedly sexually harassed female patrons. In 2017 the promoters adopted a zero tolerance policy to harassment. The festival has experienced frequent complaints and allegations of sexual harassment and other violence towards women by participants, including having a history of women being shouted at to 'take your top off', and men holding placards that read "tits out for the boys". In 2008, a mob of up to 400 men was observed by journalists surrounding and harassing women, leading Australian Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner

Elizabeth Broderick Elizabeth Broderick is an Australian lawyer, who was the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner for over eight years from 2007 to 2015 and has been a United Nations special rapporteur for Discrimination against Women and Girls since 2017. S ...

to comment that such conduct fosters an environment that may lead to rape. Security staff were described as "powerless" to stop the mob, although event organiser Chic Henry stated that he was happy with the performance of security. In 2011, another mob was alleged to have occurred. In 2017, Summernats announced its zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment.

References

External links

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