SUMMERNATS 28 finished in fine style, with the all the tension of the preceding days culminating in a final day of high drama.

The Horsepower Heroes competition was a triumph for Jake Edwards, but it also saw him blow his Torana’s 118mm turbo to smithereens!

The Grand Champion award went to Nathan Borg’s Datsun 1200 ute, but not before the crowd was treated to some gnarly action with the contenders fighting it out in the Go-to-Whoa.

“Mate, that was unreal!” Nathan said after his Sunday morning Go-Whoa runs that not only gave him the Grand Champion sword but sealed his place in Summernats history as its first-ever rotary-powered Grand Champ.

“That’s really only the second time I’ve had a drive of the car [since completion] and I had an absolute ball. I’ve been waiting to drive it again for nine years and I just wanted to keep going!” 

The Grand Champion prize tops-off a huge 18 months for Nathan and his team. After debuting at Sydney MotorEx in 2012, the diminutive red turbo-rotary powered ute was well received at Summernats a year ago and with feedback from the judges, Nathan refined the car with some paint detailing and fresh trim and returned to win the ultimate prize. 

Nathan edged-out the nine other Elite contenders, including the cool silver Holden ute KRANKI of Daniel Souvleris that unfortunately smacked the wall when Daniel tickled the pedal after a crowd-pleasing heads-up Go-Whoa demo run with Nathan’s Datsun. Two more red-hot contenders, the Top Judged Elite Mazda RX-3 of John Saad and Adrian Woodley’s Camaro both suffered battery charging dramas but will be back for another crack at the title next year! 

Once Nathan was presented with his sword, the burnout finals kicked off and there was plenty of carnage and some heroic performances in both the Burnout Championships and Burnout Masters.

Next year’s event will be held on 7-10 January, 2016.