The annual four-day festival of tyre smoke, mullets and noisy engines that don’t fit under the bonnet properly is returning to Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) for its 35th iteration.

Co-owner Andy Lopez said Summernats 35 will be the “biggest ever”, starting on Thursday, 5 January 2023, with a cruise up and down Northbourne Avenue.

“We have 2700 cars booked in – we actually had to put up the ‘sold out’ sign for car entries for the first time,” he said.

“It’s a great indication of the strength of the event and the love for it.”

Summernats returns with a roar, bigger than ever before

1 January 2023 | James Coleman

Start the conversation

Summernats 35 Fringe Festival Braddon media launch, 2022. Photo: James Coleman.

The annual four-day festival of tyre smoke, mullets and noisy engines that don’t fit under the bonnet properly is returning to Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) for its 35th iteration.

Co-owner Andy Lopez said Summernats 35 will be the “biggest ever”, starting on Thursday, 5 January 2023, with a cruise up and down Northbourne Avenue.

“We have 2700 cars booked in – we actually had to put up the ‘sold out’ sign for car entries for the first time,” he said.

“It’s a great indication of the strength of the event and the love for it.”

READ ALSO SUVs like VW’s new T-Roc might help with a very Aussie problem

Tens of thousands of visitors from interstate and overseas are expected to descend on Canberra over the four days to watch all things fast and furious – not to mention the music line-up – bringing millions of tourism dollars and “life and colour of a different kind”.

“One thing about Summernats is it shows off Canberra in a completely different light,” Andy said.

“For that one weekend of the year, it becomes Australia’s capital of cool.”

Summernats was founded in 1988 by the late Chic Henry, who died in April 2022. Andy and his wife took it over in 2010. They began moving it away from its chequered past of strip shows and wet T-shirt contests and towards a more family-friendly event designed to showcase the effort and money Australia’s petrolheads pour into their cars. Think burnout competitions, noisy cruises and static car shows.

Read more