SYDNEY: A friendly rivalry played out in a tin shed full of cars as Summernats judges picked the year’s best show cars.
John Saad and Nathan Borg, both from Sydney, each gathered a small pile of trophies at their feet as the categories were announced.
In the end, Mr Saad’s Mazda RX-3 sedan won the car festival’s prestigious top judged elite award.
But the punters got a vote too, and Mr Borg’s shiny red 1977 Datsun 1200 ute took out the people’s choice award.
The pair have known each other for some time, meeting at a panel spray-painting shop and keeping in touch as fellow car builders and enthusiasts.
In fact, the same tradesman built the engines for their entries this year.
‘We’ve both grown through the same process of headaches and whatnot,’ Mr Borg told AAP on Saturday.
‘It’s good to see us both out here and doing so well.’
He was happy to take out the people’s choice in his second year entering, saying it was fantastic to see his little Japanese car beat out the big V8s and muscle cars.
Summernats 28 was Mr Saad’s first time entering a car he’d built.
‘I thought we had a good chance of top 60 and maybe in the top 10, but top judged, that just blew me out of the water,’ he said.
He’s owned Mazdas since his teens and set out more than four years ago to turn the RX-3 into his dream car.
The cost of realising that dream? Let’s just say I could have paid off my mortgage.
Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez estimated there was up to $12 million worth of machinery on display in the pavillion holding the top 60 show cars.
While almost all can drive, many wouldn’t be street legal, he said.
But their owners will get a chance to try them on the tarmac at the inaugural Red Centre Nats, in Alice Springs in September, when the NT government has promised to issue temporary road permits.
Organisers estimated 50,000 people would head to Summernats on Saturday, the biggest of the festival’s four days.
Other major drawcards on the day were the qualifying heats for the burnout championship, with the final held on Sunday, and the annual Miss Summernats competition.
