GRAND CHAMP
GRAND Champion is Summernats’s highest achievement, given to the street machiner with the highest score of excellence in car crafting (from the Elite-class judging scores), popularity with the spectators (as determined by People’s Choice votes) and on-road, street-driven performance in the Go-to-whoa and Slalom driving events.
This year, 18 elite street machines were in the running for the Grand Champion trophy sword, with the cars and their drivers a mix of new and past contestants. Last year’s winner, Mark ‘Happy’ Williams, was back to defend his title in his blacker-than-black supercharged 406ci Chev-powered HQ one-tonner, and other obvious favourites were Kylie and Adam Perry in their Tailspin FB Holden – they suffered Ecu/tuning problems last year – and John Saad, back for a crack at Grand Champion in his new XY Falcon after winning Summernats 29 Grand Champ in a Mazda RX-3.
To keep the field keen, no one knows the rankings, so it’s up to each driver to do his or her best for Sunday’s Grand Champion driving events of Go-to-whoa (an acceleration and braking test) and Slalom (a test for steering and handling). The field of 18 was whittled to a magnificent seven and then three finalists: Last year’s winner Mark Williams in his HQ tonner, Rick Werner in his angry little blown Chev 383-powered ’32 Ford rod, and Grant Connor in his XR Fairmont sedan.
It was Grant who won. Debuted at Summernats a couple of years ago (and featured in Street
Machine in July 2016) Grant’s Fairmont has had a recent freshen-up – finished just days before Summernats – including an Arrow-blocked 434cube Pavtek-built Cleveland V8, a tougher C4 auto, a cool highlight on those enormous 20- and 22-inch Simmons wheels and fresh custom-mix House of Kolor paint.
“We did a year of driving it before we took it off the road for the rebuild,” Grant explained. “So I knew how it would drive.” A minor issue with the gear selection on Sunday morning dampened his confidence a little, but it was soon fixed, allowing the Fairmont to perform to its full potential.
Grant’s experience at Summernats 29 was also an asset: “I was more familiar with the need to drive the car,” he explained. “There’s no coasting through the chequered flag!”
Amen to that!