Summernats - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Summernats, short for Summer Nationals, is a car festival held in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Summernats is held annually, usually at the start of the year. Summernats is the best known car festival in Australia, and an event which attracts many tourists to Canberra, bringing about $12–$15 million to the ACT

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

economy. It has increasingly been promoted as an event for families. The Summernats attendance record was set in 2005 with 119,000 people.

Summernats features many street machines with airbrush

Airbrush

An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray guns developed from the airbrush and are still considered a type of airbrush.-History:...

ed artwork

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

, and restored and modified cars

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

. It is held over a four day period, with many events, with prize

Prize

A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...

s in competitions such as for burnouts, parades of cars around the track, a Miss Summernats competition, and fireworks

Fireworks

Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...

at night.

Promoter

Summernats' promoter and organiser is Chic Henry. The naming rights sponsor of Summernats is Street Machine magazine.

Venue

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

Federal Highway (Australia)

The Federal Highway is a short highway in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. It is a part of the Sydney-Canberra National Highway link....

, Lyneham

Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory

Lyneham is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the North Canberra district. It is named after Sir William Lyne, premier of the Australian state of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901. The suburb name was gazetted in 1928, but development did not commence until 1958. The streets of Lyneham are named...

Grand Champion

The most prestigious award is the "Summernats Grand Champion". http://www.summernats.com.au/pdfs/grandchampion.pdf

2007: Zoltan Bodo from Ngunnawal, Australian Capital Territory
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 18 October 1991. Ngunnawal is adjacent to the suburbs of Nicholls, Casey and Amaroo and Taylor...

, with a 1992 Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...

VP series Senator;
2006: Aaron Fitzpatrick from Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

, with a gold 1969 Datsun 510
Datsun 510
The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. According to AutoWeek's G.D...

sedan http://www.summernats.com.au/results_elite2006.htm.
2005:
- Deby and Gary Myers from Narrandera NSW, in a silver 1966 Ford Mustang
  Ford Mustang
  The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
  
  coupe; and
- Dave Ritchie from Dapto NSW, in a green 1965 Ford Falcon
  Ford Falcon (Australia)
  The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...
  
  XP coupe.

Miss Summernats

2007: Jenelle Smith, 19, from Canberra
2006: Bree Fenton, 19, from Sydney
2005: Tanya Lazarou, from Sydney

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 numerous awards are handed out.

Driving Events

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

Burnout and Burnout Masters
Grass Motorkahana
Go to Whoa
Grab a Flag
Best Cruiser
Slalom

Dyno Challenge

There is also a competition that many people say is Australia's best Dyno comp. Cars are strapped to a device that measures Horsepower at the driven wheels. During the course of the Summernats many awards in different categories are handed out in the 'Dyno-cell'. In the past outright power reads of over 1000 and 1200 hp at the wheels have been registered.

Controversy

A crash at Summernats 2006 injured a number of people (various sources indicating four http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=450058&category=General%20News&m=1&y=2006, five http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17761193-5001028,00.html or six http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1543504.htm).

Street cruises were stopped after the 2005 Summernats, following crowd control issues.

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." http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200701/1822615.htm?act

External links

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