The rain held off, the crowds rolled in and Summernats 36 hit full throttle on Friday with a full range of events, as enthusiasts flocked to the burnout eliminations and piled into the judging pavilion where the top 60 cars in the country were on show.
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Two days into the event and touring car legend John Bowe said he must have shaken a few hundred sweaty hands already and expected that by the end of the Summernats weekend, there will be hundreds more.
"I've been coming here for 17 years and it's always a great event, there's lots of interesting people and old friends to catch up with," the Bathurst race winner said.
"I love talking cars and so does everyone who comes here. If you didn't like cars, you wouldn't be here."
Cruising diehards like truck driver Matt Killen, who brought his cut-down Jeep from Victoria, welcomed the weather improvement after having to duck down behind his tiny windscreen when storms rolled in and the rain belted down on Friday afternoon.
This year he has brought his whole family of five along for the modified car festival.
"We've rented an apartment in the city this year so we just spend the day cruising around, park up and then head into the air-conditioning," he said.
Out on the burnout pad, eliminations for the weekend's finals began with plumes of smoke, blown tyres and the occasional lick of flame.
Dozens of super-keen burnout fans lined up early to stand right at the chain-link fence all afternoon, wave their index fingers in the air in encouragement and face the full tyre-shedding, ear-blasting barrage.
Those not in the competition had the alternative of skid row, a long fenced concrete tunnel where any Summernats entrant can burn as much rubber and fuel as their budget allows.
Meanwhile, hundreds of cars from modest Holden Geminis to full-blown pro-street drag cars roll around and around the Exhibition Park cruise route, a parade of machinery that goes on for hour upon hour.
Inside the trotting track complex where the lawnmower racers slide their karts around a makeshift track, 11-year-old Bella Peter and Abbigale Greer-Love set up a beauty clinic, offering hand massages and beauty treatments at bargain prices in between donning their helmets and going racing.
Ambulance Australia, which has 24 staff at Summernats and eight vehicles on standby, reported a steady trickle of customers mostly with just minor burns and abrasions, and one dislocated knee.
