APOCALYPSE NOW

THICK BUSHFIRE SMOKE PROVIDED AN OMINOUS BACKDROP TO THE ON-PAD CARNAGE DURING AN EPIC SUMMER NAT S BURNOUT CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

AFTER 300 cars had battled in searing heat on the Friday and Saturday to qualify for the Summernats 33 Burnout Championship finals, come Sunday afternoon it was finally crunch time. The scene was apocalyptic even before a tyre was blazed in anger; yellow and red skies and heavy smoke from the fires that were mercilessly ravaging our country had settled over the whole of Canberra.

Fortunately, a southerly breeze brought some cool relief as burnout stalwart Dom Luci opened the finals in his tough-as Ls-powered HZ Holden, LITMUP. Having narrowly missed out on winning Grand Champion with his stunning new VK, Dom held nothing back. Massive revs from the aspirated small-block, high-speed tip-ins and awesome use of the pad had the crowd on their feet.

It was a hard act to follow, but Brett Hardy in the

PHATDAT supercharged Ls-powered Datsun ute – with the carbs and air cleaners towering above the roof – hit the high notes from the get-go. With smoke thundering from under the rear quarters, the Datto chewed up the entire pad, with multiple breakneck tip-ins and plenty of limiter bashing before the rear bags exploded.

One of the early standouts was Matt Kittel’s drive in his blown 1996 Commodore, LAYSEM. After a big tip-in, he headed straight to the end of the pad and started ripping off helis in the narrow part of the track with just millimetres between him and the concrete walls. The crowd went ballistic, climbing the fences as he put it all on the line. Talk about a big set of pills!

EX-NASCAR Mopar engines have now become the flavour of the month, and Jono Kelly’s 358ci R5p7-powered VK Commodore went straight to 9000rpm right out of the gate. With the screaming small-block on song, Jono took 3FIVE5 the full length

STORY MARK AR BLASTER PHOTOS TI MM CC OR MACK& MICHELLE PO ROB IC Leteisha Chun Tie brought her PARTY TIME VH Commodore all the way down from FNQ! Leteisha qualified for the Championship finals on the Saturday, but was hit by electrical gremlins. “She changed an alternator in the line-up for Skid Row,” said her proud brother Jay. “Then she had a power issue on Sunday, which meant she lost spark during her finals skid. It was fixed in an hour when we got home. Next time!”

Biggest smoke of the day went to Thomas Beltrame in the FJ40 Land Cruiser, INFERNO. Talk about all or nothing! Massive rpm, wall-slamming antics and an absolutely deafening exhaust made Thomas’s showing one of the highlights of the afternoon. One day he will string all the madness together and make history