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The smell of exhaust, revved engines, left-hand and right-hand drives, Idaho plates and local plates reading "4BNBAD", the earth was moving, there were nearly 300 of them, the Ngunnawal had welcomed them; it was Summernats City Cruise and it rolled down Canberra's Northbourne Avenue on Thursday afternoon.
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Hundreds gathered along barricades as Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said organising the car festival's 30th anniversary had been more exciting than challenging, with 100,000 people and nearly 2500 cars expected to grace the tracks at Exhibition Park in Canberra over the weekend.
"Summernats 30 is definitely shaping up to be the biggest Summernats festival ever," Mr Lopez said.
"It's a great weekend for the local accommodation and hospitality industries here in Canberra, we really appreciate the support of the ACT government."
Mr Lopez said planning had been meticulous and organisers were keen to shake off the festival's marred reputation by bringing in more family-friendly events, changing alcohol policies and encouraging people to bring their kids.
"We've made a whole pile of changes to make it more of a community and family friendly event, it's still a wild crazy car festival," Mr Lopez said.
He said organisers had extra security in place and were coordinating with the ACT government and ACT police throughout the weekend to keep the Canberra public safe.
"I think it's fair to say the relationship between the Summernats and the ACT police probably veers into the bromance," Mr Lopez said.
Carly James, 20, and her friend Ben Holland, 20, had just missed seeing the City Cruise. Her first Summernats last year was confronting as she'd witnessed men "shouting for girls to get their bits out" amongst other things, but was still returning this year.
When asked why they were going, a car drove past revving its engine, she and Mr Holland both laughed and said "for that".
They both said they loved the atmosphere of Summernats and being able to do stuff in your car that was illegal on the streets.
"I think it kind of just gives people a release," Ms James said.
Kim Beaton had just met Ray Shipley and his friends, Joanne and John Thurlby, with all four of them gathered to watch the city cruise go by with the Thurlby's granddaughter, Kiara.
"I'm a Canberran, I try to have a look most years, I've been into it the last three or four years," Mr Beaton said.
"Everyone thinks it's a good festival, it's good for the town, it's good for cars."
