An integral part of the Australian Hot Rod/Specialty Car scene is Canberra’s Summernats, one of Australia’s longest running and one of our largest car festivals. It’s been held every year in January since 1987, but unfortunately like so many other events had to be cancelled this year, although it will be back on from January 6th to 9th in 2022……hopefully!
However, an event that did go ahead last year and proved to be a great alternative for car and bike lovers that were able to get to the Northern Territory was the Red Centre Nats which was held in September 2020 with over 700 cars from most states there.
The best effort to get to Alice Springs definitely went to a couple of Tasmanian guys, Scott Seville and Cody Free who had to travel from Tasmania to South Australia and then up to Alice Springs, while the cars had to go to Melbourne to Adelaide to Darwin and then back down to Alice Springs, with individual permits needed for each state. Then it was the same in reverse for the return trip as well as the boys having to do 14 days self-quarantine when they got back to Tasmania.
This year the Red Centre Nats are on again on the weekend of the 3rd-5th of September and it’s lining up to be one of their biggest events, with Street Parades and Cruising, Burnout Comps, Drags, Motorkana’s, Grass Driving and Show and Shines all featuring cars and bike.
Here’s the website if you’re interested in getting along: www.redcentrenats.com.au and here’s their promo video: redcentrenats promo video
Street Machine magazine have been big supporters of Red Centre Nats, and here’s a link to some of their articles which have some amazing photos: street machine red centre nats