HERE it is, ladies and gentleman. By now we would hope you’ve all sobered up and recovered from the post-Summernats hangover, ready to drink in the goodness that is the Street Machine Summernats 2017 magazine. Out of the thousands of epic photos the SM staff took at this year’s 30th birthday bash, we’ve hand-picked some of the maddest, loosest, smokiest and altogether greatest shots and bundled them into one epic 146-page magazine. It’s the most comprehensive coverage you’ll find of Summernats 30, and it hits the newsstands today. Get around it people – who knows, you might even be in there.

On the cover of this year’s ‘Nats mag is Perth bloke Matt James’s wild UNWANTED ute spewing flames absolutely everywhere during the Burnout Masters Last Chance Wild Card Shootout. Hands down this was the hottest burnout of the year and one of the biggest tyre fires we’ve seen for a long time.

We check out the Summernats 30 Grand Champion-winning ProCharged HQ One Tonner of Mark ‘Happy’ Williams. It really was an incredible victory, with Mark having lost his dad – who helped build the car – just days before Summernats. Mark gave it everything he had in the driving events and pulled it off, pipping some very tough competition at the post.

The City Cruise is always a Summernats favourite. With record numbers at this year’s event, around 300 cars hit Northbourne Avenue to give the broader Canberran population a taste of Summernats.

Thursday’s Burnout Masters Last Chance Wildcard Shootout saw some big names vying for an opportunity just to compete in the Masters qualifying round! We had the likes of Matt James in UNWANTED, long-time burnout legend Peter Grmusa in his new FDIS truck, Dave Cufone in 1FATRAT, Brett Nidrie in IMORTAL, Paul Cook in BLWNVC, and Sam Surace in MADSAM. Justine Mott was doing it for the girls in GEMSKID, plus we had a handful of Kiwi cars going full tilt.

The Top 60 Elite Hall had eyes popping as a bunch of awesome new cars were unveiled alongside the best custom cars in the nation – as judged by Owen Webb and his band of merry adjudicators. A couple of highlights included Bill Sharkey’s ’55 Chev and Shelly Davies’s jaw-dropping Doorslammer Mustang.

Farmtruck and AZN! The Street Outlaws guys were an absolute laugh, and we reckon they’ll be telling their ‘Murican mates about us crazy Aussies for years to come. We sat down with our new American friends to chat about their thoughts on the Australian car scene.

Even the regular Summernats Burnout Championship is a bloody impressive sight these days. The high level of competition in the Masters means that there are still loads of impressive blown beasts in the regular skid comp, and some pretty big names, too – including Peter Grmusa and eventual winner Anthony Page.

Myself, SM Social Media guru Gus, and Cleetus from 1320Video were selected to be judges of this year’s Miss Summernats competition. It was a tough gig, but someone had to do it. We were looking for the best presentation, personality and overall package from the lovely ladies. Jazmyne Wardell – daughter of Brendyn and Natalie (owners of the ANGRYR VL and MIS5L VS Clubsport respectively) – was the eventual winner, and now it looks like the family is getting their own reality TV show!

You’ll find all of this plus Super Cruise coverage, crazy Summernats Cult Cars, Horsepower Heroes, a Q&A with rock dogs Airbourne, the tattoo competition, Tuff Street and plenty of random looseness all in the awesome Street Machine Summernats 2017 magazine, on sale now!