THE best elements of Summernats are to form the core of a world-class car festival in Alice Springs this September after a deal between event organisers and the Northern Territory government.
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Details of the event, to be known as Red CentreNATs, were outlined by Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez and Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles at Canberra’s EPIC on Sunday.
Mr Giles, a self-confessed rev head who was on his first extended visit to Summernats, said he had raised the possibility of a Northern Territory event with Summernats founder Chic Henry many years ago.
The Alice Springs resident said his home town had a huge car culture and that there was enormous potential for the event, to be held from September 3 to September 6.
He said as part of the agreement between Summernats and the NT government, participants would be able to drive modified cars in the streets from venue to venue as long as they qualified for a special permit.
The two parties have committed to three events starting this year and the option to extend the agreement from 2018.
Sunday’s announcement came on the last day of one of the most successful Summernats in years.
Crowd behaviour was good and there were no arrests or major incidents. Attendances were expected to break the 100,000 mark and a near record 1907 cars were entered. This was more than 100 up on the 1800 organisers were expecting.
Mr Lopez said while Summernats’ focus was modified cars and street machines, Red CentreNATS was for all cars and car lovers.
‘‘We’d like to see this become the nationals for every car club in the country," he said. "We were approached by the Northern Territory government [which has committed $1 million to the event] and that is a great validation of what we are doing in Canberra."
