Summernats

Summernats (a portmanteau of "Summer" and "National"), is an annual car festival held in Canberra, Australia since 1987, except 2021.[1] 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.[2] It has increasingly been promoted as an event for families. The Summernats spectator attendance record was set in 2017 with 119,184 attendees.[3]

Summernats
Burnout at Summernats in 2005
Genrecar festival
Date(s)January
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), Canberra
Inaugurated31 December 1987 (1987-12-31)
Attendance119,184
Websitehttp://www.summernats.com.au/
Contestants for "Miss Summernats 2012"

Summernats features many street machines with airbrushed artwork, and restored and modified cars. It is held over a four-day period, with many events, with prizes in competitions such as for burnouts, parades of cars around the track, fireworks at night and two outdoor concerts held on Friday and Saturday nights.

Promotion and partnerships

Between 1987 and 2009, Summernats' promoter and organiser was Chic Henry.[4] 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.[5]

Venue

Summernats is held at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), corner of Flemington Road and Federal Highway, Lyneham.

Summernats 34, which was due to take place in January 2021, is on hiatus until January 2022 due to EPIC being used by ACT Health as a COVID-19 testing facility until at least the end of November. A new, reduced capacity Summernats Rev Rock ‘n’ Roll festival will run in March 2021 to tide fans of the car festival over.[6]

Awards

Many awards are given during the course of the festival.

Grand Champion

The most prestigious award is the "Summernats Grand Champion".[7][8]

  • 2021 NONE
  • 2020 Todd Sorenson
  • 2019 Rick Werner
  • 2018 Grant O'Connor
  • 2017 Mark Williams
  • 2016 John Saad
  • 2015 Nathan Borg
  • 2014 Henry Parry
  • 2013: Mick Fabar from Orange, New South Wales, with a 1967 Ford XR Falcon sedan;
  • 2012 Ben Sargent
  • 2011 Peter Fitzpatrick
  • 2010 Joe Lore
  • 2009 Darrell Leemhuis
  • 2008 Rob Godfrey
  • 2007 Zoltan Bodo from Ngunnawal, Australian Capital Territory, with a 1992 VP series HSV Senator;
  • 2006 Aaron Fitzpatrick from Australian Capital Territory, with a gold 1969 Datsun 510 sedan.[9]
  • 2005
  • 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
  • 2012: Sabrina Damiano
  • 2014: Danah Wheatley
  • 2015: Monique Dognan-Smith[10]
  • 2016: Amanda Beattie
  • 2017: Jazmyne Wardell[11]

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.

Driving events

There is a multitude of awards handed out to entrants in cars, which are in the following categories: [12][13]

  • 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 3000hp at the wheels have been registered. [14]

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, 1010hp

32 - 2019 Brenden Medlin, 2483hp

33 - 2020 Maria Passos, 2202hp

Controversy

A crash at Summernats 2006 injured a number of people (various sources indicating four,[15] five[16] or six[17]).

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. [18] 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."[19]

Sexual harassment of women

The festival has experienced frequent complaints and allegations of sexual harassment and other violence towards women by participants,[20] 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".[21][22][23]

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 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.[24]

In 2011, another mob was alleged to have occurred.[25]

In 2017, Summernats announced its zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. [26]

See also

References
  1. Fuller, Glen (6 May 2006). "ASMF History". Event Mechanics. Event Mechanics. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  2. Barr, Andrew. "Summernats returns to CBR in January 2016" (Press release). Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  3. "Summernats". Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  4. "Exotic street machines in town for the Summernats". The Canberra Times. 31 December 1987. p. 3.
  5. "From Schools Spectacular to Summernats – Andy Lopez on big events". Australasian Special Events. Backalley Production Company. 5 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016.
  6. "2021 Summernats festival delayed to January 2022". Canberra Weekly. Newstate Media. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  7. Summernats Grand Champion (PDF), Summernats, archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2006
  8. "STREET MACHINE SUMMERNATS – THE GRAND CHAMPIONS | 22 | Street Machine". www.streetmachine.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  9. "Summernats Elite Results". Archived from the original on 28 April 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. "Summernats 28 Official Results" (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  11. "Jazmyne Wardell named Miss Summernats 2017". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 8 January 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017.
  12. "Summernats". www.summernats.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  13. "Summernats". www.summernats.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  14. Dyno Dynamics (10 January 2019), 3000HP DYNO BATTLE - WHO WINS?, retrieved 5 May 2017
  15. "General News". 8 January 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
  16. "Stunt driver crash injures five". The Daily Telegraph. 8 January 2006. Archived from the original on 11 January 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
  17. "Stunt smash prompts safety review". ABC News Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 8 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
  18. https://www.whichcar.com.au/events/summernats/city-cruise-street-machine-summernats-32
  19. "Summernats organisers play down reports of violence". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 January 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
  20. "Summernats car festival: Canberrans vent frustrations about noise, sexual harassment on social media". Australian Broadcasting Commission. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015.
  21. "Women abused at Summernats". RiotACT. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  22. Ford, Clementine (16 January 2017). "Harassment of women by men at Summernats cannot be excused or ignored". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  23. Noyes, Jenny (January 2017). ""The street where you don't go": It looks like something out of the 1970s. A world that many Australians though had disappeared. Think again". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  24. Maley, Paul (8 January 2008). "Summernats 'could lead to rape'". The Australian. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015.
  25. Christopher, Knaus. "Summernats 'mobbing' denied". Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  26. "SUMMERNATS ADOPTS ZERO-TOLERANCE APPROACH TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT". StreetMachine.com.au. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
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