Hundreds turnout to watch the Summernats 35 city cruise on Northbourne Avenue Canberra

Spectators were overwhelmed. "Awesome" was the repeated word on the street.

"It's a great family event. It's free and you can see great cars," Melissa Rogina said.

Even those who didn't describe themselves as "petrol heads" were impressed.

"It was interesting to see," Michael Paul said.

He denied being a car enthusiast, though he did admit he owned a 1972 Mini Club (the pre-BMW Mini).

READ ALSO: Your guide to Summernats 2023

"It's a big and mighty roar - all these vehicles," he said from the verge. He admired those who put in the elbow grease: "They spend their time and their energy, honing their skills and they get the pleasure.

But he wondered if Summernats quite gets the current environmental zeitgeist. "There's a lot of fuel and emissions - you can smell it in the air, and we are trying to reduce emissions. I don't know how long it can go on for".

But even as he wondered about how long the carbon-burning event can continue, he said: "It's amazing, absolutely amazing. I enjoyed the procession."

Enthusiasts of all ages came to wow and wonder.

"Cars are really cool," 12-year-old Abyan Eiad said. "It's very spectacular."

His favourite was a Viper (manufactured originally by Dodge - all bulge and fins). Or as Abyan put it: "It's a sports car with a spoiler - or wing thing - on the back. I have a toy one."

His friend, nine-year-old Neil Basu thought it was a bit like a Ferrari.

They'd both been brought by Abyan's mother, Tahseen: "I have no knowledge of cars but being the mother of a growing boy who loves cars, this morning when I heard that there was this display, we came along, and he invited his friend."

The grand arrival of Summernats in town took some organising. Northbourne Avenue was closed off to other traffic for an hour, so there was no way across the 17 intersections of the route. The turnaround point was at London Circuit, before the 500 cars headed north back to EPIC on the opposite carriageway.

There was a Transport Canberra official in the back of the lead police car, liaising with the city's traffic operations centre in Fyshwick.

READ MORE ON SUMMERNATS 35:

This Summernats may be the biggest ever.

The event was cancelled in 2021 due to COVID-19, and attendances were capped last year because of the Omicron outbreak.

The pandemic hiatus has only served to fire up interest this year.

The organisers say that this year's 2700 vehicles entered is capacity.

A note posted on the event's website months ago advises those who missed out that they lodge their entries for Summernats 36 in 2024 at the conclusion of this year's event.

It's too soon to make a definitive comment on attendances but, with Platinum packages having sold out months ago and other ticket sales exceeding expectations, it is quite possible the record of 119,184 spectators set in 2017 could be broken.

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