It was a warm and sticky start to Bursons Autoparts Motorvation 37 at the Perth Motorplex with the temperature peaking around 35 degrees mid-afternoon which, let’s face it, is pretty mild for WA this time of the year. With the date moved to early Feb, there was a bit more breathing space between Street Machine Summernats and Motorvation this year, which might be part of the reason burnout legend Peter Grmusa dragged ATRISK across the Nullarbor to give the West Aussies a look at one of the wildest burnout cars to ever turn a tyre.

The locals will also get a chance to see the stunning HT Monaro, and SM, Jan ’21 cover car, of Dean Rickard’s – and trust me, you’ll need to spend a lot of time checking out all the clever little tricks and details worked into this car by Down Town Kustoms.

The gates opened at 9am for entrants to come in, but the action really kicked off when Skid Row opened up at 2pm. People were trying pretty hard to get the tyres off in one pass it seemed, and after a couple of hours of screaming engines and clouds of tyre smoke, Skid Row closed and the 1/8 th mile drags kicked off. With the air temps still in the mid-30s at 4pm and an un-prepped track, there wasn’t a huge uptake by the entrants, but those that were
giving it a crack didn’t have to wait long between runs.

The night finished off with the Sportsman Class burnouts in the infamous Snakepit. We’ll bring you more from the event shortly!

1. If you’re a fan of VL Commodores, then there were plenty of tough ones to check out at Motorvation this year including Jake Djuric’s LS-powered stunner

2. Paddy Barber made the trek all the way from Esperance (a 7.5 hour drive) with four of his mates and their cars. His tough-as-nails HQ Monaro coupe runs a big-block Chev and had no dramas blazing the tyres on Skid Row and put on a pretty good showing at the 1/8 th mile drags

3. Some people may say he paid too much, but it looks like pretty good value for money to me

4. Glen Taylor from Nelg’s Ali Mods has given BARK a bit of a birthday with fresh candy blue paint, a new set of headers with 2in primaries and a Turbo 400 from AllFast. The blown single-cam has a scream all of its own and is a huge crowd favourite

5. Ronny Harvey looks like he’s got HELLFEARD firing on all cylinders and looking better than ever. The blown big-block is a legendary car in the WA scene and was the first car to do a burnout at the Motorplex Snakepit

6. This bloke might have fake ID, but that sure looks like a real fire!

7. The Old Skool Rydz Lowrider Club always put on a great display and are big supporters of any event. They’ve also got a couple of stunning Impalas on display in the Elite Marquee, so make sure you check them out

8. Phil Gardiner’s wife’s LC Torana might look like a mild-mannered cruiser with its 2600cc (161ci) engine badges, but there’s a stock 308 under the bonnet of the Orchid metallic and white beauty

9. You know if there’s a Rambler at a car show I’ll sniff it out. Karl Czaplinski is one of the five blokes that came up from Esperance. His Hornet has been a round the scene for years and has had a variety of engine combos over the years. I remember seeing it in the 80s at Ravenswood when it had a 400 Chev in it and was dark blue.

It now runs an iron-block 5.3 that’s been punched out to 5.7, but the tricky part is, it might look n/a, but there’s actually a couple of GT35 turbos tucked in front of the diff. With just 14pis it makes 760hp at the hubs and has run a 10.0

10. If anyone was wondering what happened to Peter Elliot’s ’37 Ford, it’s now in Perth and finally getting some miles on the tyres under the ownership of Rob Ricupero. When Rob bought the car it had 0km on the clock and the only change he’s made is to fit electric power steering and replaced the suspension bushes. He reckons it drives like a dream now. We first featured it in SM, May ’08 in an extensive story that showed off all of the amazing chassis detail