You'd be hard pressed to find a go-kart powered by a jet engine at a playground. But then again, for this weekend, Exhibition Park was anything but your average playground.
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For the third year, the Big Boys Toys Expo rolled back into Canberra, transforming EPIC into the ultimate man-cave.
Billed as the "ultimate playground" for grown ups, the two-day event featured strong-man competitions, drone racing, V8-racing simulators, classic car displays as well as pinball competitions.
While large amounts of noise came from all the displays, the most came from Brett Smith's jet-engined powered kart, coming in at more than 140 decibels.
It was so loud, ear plugs had to be provided to fascinated on-lookers.
"People are always very interested to see what the noise and the power is like," Mr Smith said.
"When I turn the afterburners on, you can feel the power rather than just hear it. It rattles your brains and rearranges your organs."
Mr Smith has been working with turbines for more than 30 years, but said putting the mini-jet engines on the backs of go-karts remained a hobby.
It took the Campbelltown man three months to put everything together before being able to show off his creation.
"It was originally an 80cc go-kart, now it can do more than 260km/h.It doesn't go round corners too well, but in a straight line it is very fast," he said.
"People really like the noise and the smoke and the fire."
While lovers of all thing horsepower were watching engines firing outside, a different type of firing was taking place inside.
A large Nerf-gun arena was also set up as part of the event, with competitions between both young and old going on throughout the day.
The arena proved to be one of the more popular activities, with its manager Malcolm Selby saying the Nerf community in Canberra was constantly growing.
"The popularity of it is increasing, and it's certainly been increasing a lot over the last 12 months," he said.
"Five years ago, Canberra used to have the largest Nerf community in the southern hemisphere, and while it died out for a bit, it's on the increase again."
Mr Selby said like many of the activities on display at Big Boys Toys, Nerf's appeal expands across the generations.
"Parents love getting in there and being able to shoot their kids and other parents. The guns we use have foam darts so they don't get hurt," he said.
The expo continues between 10am and 4pm, Sunday, August 20. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for kids, children under six free.
