Motorvation 37 Event Wrap Up

WA’s biggest horsepower party is run and done for another year. Celebrating 37 years, the sun beamed down on the Perth Motorplex for a hot three days (with temps close to 40c over Saturday and Sunday) but that didn’t stop the sell out crowd of entrants cut loose with their mates. Friday saw stacks of killer cars cruise through the gates to get scrutineering out of the way, and then begin their setup in the pits.

Right from the get go we saw entrants cruising the pits and once gates were open at 2pm, all eyes were on Skid Row. Hayley Douglas opened up the proceedings in husband Chad’s ‘2MENTAL’ twin turbo burnout machine, with plenty of cars and action running hot all throughout the afternoon

The ‘Plex opened up the drag strip for some 1/8th mile racing in the afternoon, with plenty of toughies giving it a crack. The sun set on the first day of Motorvation as the open class burnout qualifiers ran us into the night. A massive field of cars went head to head vying for a spot in Sunday’s finals.

Saturday morning brought in three new unveil cars, as well as the chance for punters to check out the elite hall which hosted close to twenty of WA’s hottest rides. The three unveil cars covered all grounds with a mega street machine styled Torana, a blown burnout car and a crazy cool low-rider (full feature on these coming soon). Other standouts in the elite hall had to be Kevin’s HZ Panel Van, Dean Rickard’s HT Monaro and Rob Ricupero's '37 Ford.

One of Motorvation’s biggest draw cards, the Super Cruise, kicked off on Saturday arvo. Entrants are given the chance to cruise the drag strip and return road, turning tyres, sending it down the strip and having a bloody good time doing it. The variety of WA’s car scene was on display, with street machines, hot rods, burnout cars and cruisers all taking part in one epic display of chrome, colour and smoke.

The more family oriented Smooth Cruise followed, with cars cutting laps on the same circuit, minus all the tyre destroying antics. It was great to catch all these top end cars out having a great time, before attention was turned to the Snake Pit (WA’s most famous burnout pad).

Things got serious as the open and pro burnout classes kicked off the night, with over 60 cars between the two classes eyeing off a spot in Sunday’s finals. Plenty of horsepower was on show, with burnout superstars such as Peter Grmusa in his ‘ATRISK’ Falcon, Matt James in both ‘COMPACT’ and ‘UNWANTED’, Chris Orchard in his wild VL ‘THE OG’ and plenty more. A top 10 from both classes were picked to compete in Sunday’s final, with the top 20 snagging points towards the WA Burnout Championship.

Sunday morning started off with the road to Motorvation 37 Champion driving events. This year we had some real hot contenders for the top award with owner/drivers such as Nigel Warr (Red CentreNATS champion), Dean Rickard (Meguiar’s Superstar) and Simon Birch (Motorvation 36 Champion) taking part. The driving events are held in three stages, 1/8th mile drag racing, go to whoa and the slalom.

It was Mitch Rando in his absolute gem of a ’69 Camaro who won all three driving events, crowning himself as the Motorvation 37 Champion. His Camaro dubbed ‘SLEEK’ missed out last year due to some mechanical issues so Matt was over the moon to come back this year and take out the top gong award. Mitch said:

“What a surprise, I’m stoked just to be here. Thanks to everyone for putting on such a great show.”

Mitch smoked out the pad with a celebratory donut as he left with trophy firmly secure in the passenger seat, and all eyes turned to the burnout finals to wrap up the event. Check out the top three from each class below:

PRO CLASS:
1st: Anthony Page - PAGEY
2nd: Daniel Catalano - BLOWN40
3rd: Matt James - UNWANTED

OPEN CLASS:
1st: Chris Orchard - THE GAME
2nd: Matthew Owens - EVYL SS
3rd: Shane Gardiner - HELLBOUND

SPORTSMAN:
1st: Tristan Bruce Powers - EBLUBLY
2nd: Dayne Bairstow - HAVEAGO
3rd: Zachary Giles - AUDEDLYER

It was another great year for Motorvation, with over 500 of WA’s best rides partying over a huge three days. We can’t wait to head back over West for Motorvation 38 next year.

Tickets and entries for that event will go on sale shortly, so be sure to stay tuned to the Motorvation and Perth Motorplex social channels for that announcement.

Thanks to Phil from High Octane Photography for supplying us with some images from the weekend.