The Sunday of Summernats is a little more chilled than the preceding days, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a heap of action. For starters, the Haltech Horsepower Hero finals are run and won, along with the Open Burnouts and the Ultimate Redemption Round.

But is the Grand Champion driving events where the biggest pages in history are written.

The road to Grand Champion is far more than just experienced judges pouring over your vehicle whilst on display in the Top 60 Hall. To be crowned Grand Champion involves daring displays of talent behind the wheel in the driving events, and as sixteen of the country’s top show cars queued up to enter the Summernats burnout pad on Sunday morning, none of them knew how crucial a strong result in the driving events would be.

Thanks to the relentless ascension of build quality, it’s not uncommon for cars to be separated by as little as a single point on the judge’s scoresheet as they leave the Top 60 Hall, making the driving events a non-negotiable for those looking to tie up the crown.

The driving events started with the Go-To-Whoa – a test of straight line acceleration, coupled with expertly timed braking within a marked area. Entrants would get two shots at the event; crucial for some owners who’d only ever driven the car in and out of their own garages, and certainly never in anger!

Dan Morton’s FORGED was up first, looking to cement the Summernats Grand Champion win that eluded them at Summernats 36. With Pat O’Shea behind the wheel, the car looked and sounded like the absolute weapon it is, and set the pace for the following fifteen cars.

The rest of the field approached with a mix of enthusiasm – some seemingly undergoing the theatre of the driving events to collect points, and others like Jason Mackenzie’s green SIXTY7 Camaro seizing the opportunity to make their mark on the Summernats burnout pad, and shake off the dust from a weekend spent sitting inside the Top 60 Hall!

John Fenech was a last minute addition to the Grand Champion Driving Events, and brought up the rear of the field. The Westend Performance-built 383 cube Holden V8 roared to life and on his first run stopped the Torana mere inches from a perfect run, putting all other entrants on notice.

The motokhana was to follow and once again, Pat O’Shea wheeled FORGED to the line to usher in proceedings. The motokhana is a deliberately tight and technical field, aimed to test the steering and suspension geometry of competitors. With extensive engineering in custom front ends and bodies slung low over large wheels, the motokhana can be a challenge for some entrants, and at the top end of his run Pat found himself having to straighten FORGED out with a three-point turn.

This went dramatically wrong and those in attendance watched on in horror as one of the country’s most spectacular show cars surged forward and made contact with the immovable concrete barriers that line the burnout pad, causing damage to the front quarter panel and grille. FORGED would have to retire from the driving events.

The ensuing clean up condensed the rest of the schedule. Entrants would only have one shot at the motokhana instead of two, and with the gravity of what they’d just witnessed setting in, most competitors capped their enthusiasm and approached with trepidation.

John Fenech’s run was as clean as you were likely to see as he wheeled the tiny LJ around the motokhana course – nothing flashy, just a textbook run that would ultimately prove enough to secure him the greatest honour a car can receive at Summernats.