A four-day car festival in Canberra has ended with police seizing 19 vehicles, evicting 25 spectators and making multiple arrests.
Summernats 2026 attendees were removed mostly for intoxicated behaviour, but police arrested others for illegal driving and, in one case, possession of an offensive weapon.
Detective Inspector Mark Steel says police are disappointed by the number of drivers doing burnouts outside Summernats. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
Detective Inspector Mark Steel said police were disappointed by the number of drivers doing burnouts outside the festival and warned that many drivers would face court action.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with some of the behaviour on our roads this year,” Inspector Steel said.
Only five vehicles were seized during last year’s event, making this year’s tally a 280 per cent increase.
Police can hold burnout vehicles for up to 90 days, slug drivers with fines and storage fees of more than $2,000, and seek forfeiture of cars owned by repeat offenders.
“The message is out there — we won’t be tolerating those dangerous driving behaviours,” Inspector Steel said.
Police issued more than 100 defect notices to drivers using unsafe vehicles on roads. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
100 vehicles unsafe for ACT roads
Australia’s largest car festival welcomed a record 3,000 entrants this year and reached capacity with 130,000 spectators over four days.
Police issued more than 200 traffic infringement and 100 defect notices and expected the number of defected cars to more than double once notices issued by ACT government inspectors had been counted.
Officers also conducted more than 2,000 random breath and drug tests, charging 14 drug drivers and eight motorists over the legal alcohol limit.
Skid marks left on a Page street after a burnout performed outside resident Andrew Gould’s home. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
‘I was covered in smoke’
Page resident Andrew Gould said he had watched on as two men performed a burnout on the road outside his home before 6pm on Saturday night.
“I didn’t see much — I was covered in smoke,” he said.
“There was a lot of smoke. It was a decent old burnout, and you could see the skid marks as they headed off down the street, unaccountable to anyone.”
Andrew Gould says performing burnouts on residential streets is antisocial. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
Mr Gould said he had no issue with the festival itself but believed dangerous driving had no place in residential areas.
“I have nothing against the Summernats — it’s not my scene,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a guy who tells people they’re doing fun wrong, but this was just antisocial.”
‘Biggest event for ACT’
Summernats is one of the territory’s largest events, demanding a joint policing effort by ACT Policing, the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police.
“Certainly, it’s our biggest event for ACT Policing in terms of footprint and members used,” Inspector Steel said.
Jonathan Kobus says Summernats brings in more money than Floriade on a per-day basis. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
Despite the policing challenges, tourism body Visit Canberra said the festival delivered a major economic boost to the territory.
Visit Canberra executive branch manager Jonathan Kobus said the event had generated tens of millions of dollars this year and had outperformed Floriade on a per-day basis.
“Summernats is by far the largest economic contributing event that happens in this city each year,” he said.
“It is absolutely an event that attracts a diverse range of opinions, but from our perspective it brings great diversity to the territory’s annual events calendar.”
ACT Business Chamber chief executive Greg Harford said events such as Summernats played a vital role in drawing visitors to Canberra.
“You need events to bring people into Canberra, and different kinds of events appeal to different kinds of people,” he said.