Engines are revving across the ACT as Canberra car lovers get ready to descend on Exhibition Park for burnouts, beats and one of the biggest events of the year
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The population of Canberra is expected to increase by a quarter over next weekend, as rev heads from around Australia pour into the ACT for Summernats.
Dunlop resident Toni Ritchie, who has been going to the popular car event for about 20 years, said over time she has watched Summernats kids grow up and start bringing their own cars to show off.
"It's something that's on the calendar that you just don't miss. We're not travelling to it and we don't have to camp, which is probably the best part about it," she said, laughing.
Mrs Ritchie said she'd be showing off her Holden Torana on the day, complete with 20-inch rims under the rear, a custom white interior and a slick paint job courtesy of her husband Rodney.
"Canberrans don't appreciate Summernats ... you have people coming here for motel purposes, you have Dickson with a roaring trade and every restaurant would be full," she said.
"It'd be nice if Canberra and the politicians understood how much revenue it can bring to the ACT. If it moves, they'll miss it."
Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said organisers were expecting over 100,000 people to flood into the Exhibition Centre over the four day event.
He said all the usual events would be on show, including the Liqui-Moly Burnout Masters and the Show and Shine, as well as music acts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, including Illy and Havana Brown.
"Summernats is there to provide a complete festival experience, it's got stuff in it for everyone," Mr Lopez said. "The cars are always the centrepiece and the great community of people that are into street machines and do fantastic stuff with their cars."
He said Summernats would also be attempting to break its own world record for the number of cars simultaneously doing a burnout at the same time.
"We did 68 cars in our first record, we're looking to do 100 cars-plus this time," Mr Lopez said. "They've all got to do a static burnout at the same time for a minimum of 30 seconds."
Northbourne Lodge owner Paula Simcocks said she had been providing accommodation for Summernats visitors for 14 years and was usually booked out well in advance of the event.
She said she'd rarely had any problems with people behaving inappropriately while staying at her hotel.
"I find it a wonderful inspiration of group activity amongst men," she said. "Shared goals, shared cooperation between grandfather, father and son or between men who jointly own a car.
"A number of people who book six months ahead are all serious car lovers, who share their time together and their finances together to make their love of cars possible."
