In car-mad towns and suburbs across the country, cruising the main street on a Friday night has long been a staple of Aussie car culture. Griffith’s Biggest Lap is a charity event celebrating that heritage, with all proceeds going to Riding for the Disabled and the Griffith branch of Can Assist. Organised by a small, dedicated team headed up by Tacey Cripps, the event sees the entire main street of Griffith closed off for a 500-strong moving car show, and this year, it raised over $30,000!

Marshalling began mid-afternoon, with live music, food and displays to keep everyone entertained, while the cruise officially kicked off with a police escort at 6pm, just prior to dusk.

Wonderful weather saw plenty of keen spectators in attendance; the town was teeming with admiring onlookers, many of whom camped out on the nature strip and brought along blankets, chairs and even the odd marquee.

Generously supported by Kennards Hire and many other local businesses and organisations, the event attracted entries from NSW, ACT, Victoria, SA and Queensland. And the parade of glittering machinery was droolworthy. The amazing variety included everything from elite show-stoppers, Aussie and American classics, hot rods and barn finds to exotics, trucks, motorbikes and plenty of tough machinery that would look right at home at Street Machine Drag Challenge.

Despite the sheer volume of vehicles involved, the cruise flowed at a pretty steady pace. Many participants would turn a few laps, park up for a period – allowing them to also enjoy the spectacle – and then jump back in to cruise some more.

If you’ve never been to Griffith’s Biggest Lap, it’s definitely one to add to your hot-car event bucket list. It’s a ripper!

1. Carol and Rod Hadfield had to cruise their Lincoln lowrider at ‘aired up’ ride height to clear the handful of speed humps along the cruise route. Low or high, it’s one bitchin’ ride.

2. It doesn’t get much better than cruising on a glorious evening in a super-sweet ’69 Camaro convertible in front of several thousand appreciative spectators.

3. With its killer stance, the old Hillier Brothers XP hardtop (SM, Jun ’01) looked as good as ever. The Hilliers have made it known they’d like to buy it back, and are negotiating with the current owner.

4. A host of Street Machine Summernats stand-outs took part in the Biggest Lap, including Braeden Hetherington’s lush XA hardtop (In The Build, SM, May ’21). With killer panel and paint, supported by a stroker 408 Clevo and Tremec six-speed manual, it made the Rare Spares Top 10 at ’Nats 37.

5. This lengthened, ‘extra-cab’ WB ute turned a lot of heads – for all the right reasons. There would be no fear of rocking up to a show and seeing another one!