IT SURE is good to see Motorvation getting back to its former glory, with a big turnout and great vibe. The gates opened Friday at noon and is reserved for entrants, but it’s not just a set up day, from 6pm the eighth-mile drag racing kicked off, and with an unprepped track and pro tree. It made for some skatey passes as people were caught unaware and jumped on the gas a bit hard.

Photos: Jordan Leist

After watching a few of the passes, I went for a stroll through the pits and was pleasantly surprised to spot quite a few new cars that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe the pandemic does have a bright side with people getting more time to spend on their projects? As always, there is a wide variety of cars covering all makes and models and many decades – right back to the 1920s.

Perth City Street Machine Club – the originators of the event – has a big presence, as does the Steel Bumper crew. There’s also a big lineup of lowriders and an absolute bucket load of tough blown cars. It seems that Perth still has the market cornered for blown and injected engine combos. 

I heard there are over 500 cars entered, and while that may not seem like much compared to the 2000-plus you might get at Street Machine Summernats, that’s still a shitload of cars to check out and more than enough to fill up the cruise route. There’s been a concerted effort to up the quality in the elite tent as well and it looks like there’ll be some cool stuff to check out, including a handful of cars that will be unveiled. 

There’s cruising all day on Saturday and they’ve brought back some of the driving events, with a slalom and go-whoa kicking off at 11:30am and the burnout competitors hit the Snakepit at 6:30pm. 

Sunday is when they’ll sort the wheat from the chaff in the Grand driving events and then the event will close out with the burnout finals from 1:30pm. 

So, if you can, head down to the Perth Motorplex on Anketell Road and support the longest running car festival in the land so it can come back next year even bigger and better.