Owner Adrian Cuthbertson and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr unveil the beast. Photo: James Coleman.
As the red veil falls away from the car under the morning Braddon sun, it’s not entirely clear what it was meant to be doing – keeping the car a surprise, or preventing onlookers from being blinded by the gleaming orange candy paint.
After 10 years – and more bills and hours than he wants to count – Adrian Cuthbertson’s project car is complete. And at the perfect time.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr joined the Tamworth owner in revealing the 2008 Holden VE Commodore SS ute outside the Waves Car Wash in Braddon – one of more than 3000 cars entered into January’s Summernats.
But while Summernats is basking in success after 39 years here – and an estimated $900 million injected into the ACT economy over that time – it’s also looking further afield.
In March 2026, it launches its inaugural stateside spin-off – Summernats US.
“I went to SEMA [in Las Vegas] for the first time way back in 2015, and I was really surprised about how many people knew about the Summernats,” co-owner Andy Lopez announced.
“They loved the vibe of our show, and plenty told me that we should bring Summernats to the US.”
Held at the Freedom Factory and neighbouring Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, Summernats US will be an annual event and feature a program similar to our own – including cruises, burnout competitions, concerts and, at the end, one ‘Grand Champion’ to rule them all.
“We are building a genuine, long-lasting Summernats USA for the American car scene, just like the late, great Chic Henry did in Australia,” Lopez said, referencing Summernats’ Canberra founder.
Cuthbertson and his two boys are already preparing to ship the ute over there – because if there’s one thing the American car enthusiast can’t get enough of, it’s Aussie utes.
“They freak out,” he says.
“They don’t have the level of cars that we have over here. They’re all into trucks and don’t really have the loud engines. They’ve also only got the Commodore sedan over there as the SS Chevy – they don’t have the wagon or the ute – so to see a ute version, they froth over it.”
Cuthbertson has made the annual pilgrimage from Tamworth to Summernats “forever”, initially with a Mitsubishi Sigma – or as he dubbed it, ‘Skidma’ – which he’s also taken to the US for various other competitions and shows.
“[Summernats] is a lot more family orientated now,” he says.
“The show used to cruise all through the night, but now it’s all shut down by 10.”
Adrian and his boys all helped create 2Common. Photo: James Coleman.
He bought the Holden 11 years ago, in stock condition, and in a completely different colour to today’s – blue.
“It wasn’t meant to be like this – it was always meant to be a burnout car – but then we started painting it and it just went out of hand.”
A full rebuild followed – starting by boosting the supercharged V8 engine from its stock 300 horsepower to around 1000, and then adding a new, larger diff and much fatter tyres to handle it all.
These tyres also didn’t fit in the existing wheel arches so he had to “tub” it.
“We cut all the sheet metal out of the tray and then weld new, larger wheel arches into it, and shorten the diff to get it all to fit,” he explains.
“When we do burnouts, we then take the wheels off and put much thinner burnout wheels and tyres on. That’s also why you tub – to keep the wheels under the guards further so if you blow a tyre, it doesn’t damage the paint.”
And that’s pretty much what makes a winning burnout car – “it’s got to be loud, and make big smoke”.
Tray space has suffered. Photo: James Coleman.
As usual, Summernats 2026 kicks off with a cruise through the city on the first day, Thursday, 8 January, before basing itself at Exhibition Park in Mitchell until Sunday, 11 January.
Many of the cars will park up in Braddon on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings for the Fringe Festival, a sort of show-and-shine event to allow more of the Canberra community to get up close with them.
Both Mr Lopez and Chief Minister Barr are expecting a record year.
“We’ve got over 3000 cars entered already for Summernats, and that actually sold out back in March this year in one 24-hour period,” Lopez said.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr expects an economic contribution of $50 million from next year’s Summernats. Photo: James Coleman.
“The event continues to evolve and strengthen … but what it will do is bring close to 150,000 people [to Canberra],” Barr added.
“Nearly 80 per cent are from interstate or overseas, so more than 100,000 tourists will be in Canberra over the duration, and an economic contribution that we hope will exceed $50 million this year.”
Tickets to Summernats 2026 are available online.
