Summernats
Burnout at Summernats in 2005
GenreCar festival
Date(s)January
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), Canberra
Inaugurated31 December 1987; 36 years ago (1987-12-31)
Attendance119,184 (2017)
Websitehttp://www.summernats.com.au/
Contestants for "Miss Summernats 2012"

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. Summernats 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. The festival features many vehicles with airbrushed artwork, and restored and modified cars.

History

The first Summernats was held on 31 December 1987.[1]

Promotion and partnerships

Between 1987 and 2009, Summernats' promoter and organiser was Chic Henry.[3] 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.[4]

The Summernats spectator attendance record was set in 2017 with 119,184 attendees.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[7] However on 13 January 2021, this new event was also cancelled.[8]

Awards

Many awards are given during the course of the festival.

Grand Champion

The most prestigious award is the "Summernats Grand Champion".[9][10]

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

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:

In addition, there are some awards that are highly coveted amongst the Australian vehicle modifying community:

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:[14][15]

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.[16]

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

35 - 2023 Cody Hunt, 1643rwhp

Controversy

A crash at Summernats 2006 injured a number of people (various sources indicating four,[17] five[18] or six[19]).

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.[20] 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."[21]

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,[22] 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".[23][24][25]

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.[26]

In 2011, another mob was alleged to have occurred.[27]

In 2017, Summernats announced its zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ "Exotic street machines in town for the Summernats". The Canberra Times. 31 December 1987. p. 3.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Summernats". Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  6. ^ Simon Telford (9 January 2022). "Street Machine Summernats 34 Grand Champion". Street Machine. Are Media.
  7. ^ a b Samaras, Denholm (30 September 2020). "2021 Summernats festival delayed to January 2022". Canberra Weekly. Newstate Media. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Summernats Rare Spares Rev Rock 'n' Roll event cancelled due to COVID-19 uncertainty". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021. … organisers decided to cancel the event, with managing director Andy Lopez saying they did not want to put pressure on ACT Health services during COVID-19, or risk staging an event amid changing border closures.
  9. ^ Summernats Grand Champion (PDF), Summernats, archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2006
  10. ^ "STREET MACHINE SUMMERNATS – THE GRAND CHAMPIONS | 22 | Street Machine". www.streetmachine.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  11. ^ "Summernats Elite Results". Archived from the original on 28 April 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ "Summernats 28 Official Results" (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Jazmyne Wardell named Miss Summernats 2017". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 8 January 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Summernats". www.summernats.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Summernats". www.summernats.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  16. ^ Dyno Dynamics (10 January 2019), 3000HP DYNO BATTLE - WHO WINS?, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 5 May 2017
  17. ^ "General News". 8 January 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.[dead link]
  18. ^ "Stunt driver crash injures five". The Daily Telegraph. 8 January 2006. Archived from the original on 11 January 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
  19. ^ "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.
  20. ^ "City Cruise Street Machine Summernats 32".
  21. ^ "Summernats organisers play down reports of violence". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 January 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Women abused at Summernats". RiotACT. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ Maley, Paul (8 January 2008). "Summernats 'could lead to rape'". The Australian. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015.
  27. ^ Christopher, Knaus. "Summernats 'mobbing' denied". Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  28. ^ "SUMMERNATS ADOPTS ZERO-TOLERANCE APPROACH TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT". StreetMachine.com.au. Retrieved 4 May 2017.

External links

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