Summernats

[Velvet Glove]

On behalf of all Canberrans I beg of you, when u visit our fair city for Summernats please don't turn it into the d*ckhead fest it has been since its inception.

Despite what the media will tell you, the greater majority of Canberrans are sick to death of the ricer clowns that use the streets of the northern suburbs as an amateur (very amateur) raceway and burnout track.

And a word to the wise, every unmarked car in the ACT will be used in he general area, and that includes one's that you would least expect, so that car you may be tempted to pull on at the lights, may be burning a hole in your wallet down the road.

Before people jump up and down and tell me how much money it brings to the ACT, I'll tell you exactly how much it costs to clean it up every year, and how much it cost to replace the traffic light system that was pulled out of the ground during a riot there in 1992......as well as the associated increases in sexual assaults, drink spikings, gang bashings etc that can be attributed to the bowl cutted boys from that certain part of Sydney that I will be lambasted for mentioning

[100%]

You could always come to Melbourne for a holiday, we NEVER have that sort of stuff go on here

[Guest PaulM]

VG

I reckon that big road block you blokes have set up should turn a few of them away.

I have got to agree with your statement, most Canberrans are sick of the town being turned into yobboville for a week. There are some impressive vehicles, but it is not worth putting up with thousands of d1ckheads in order to see a few nice machines.

As for the money it brings to town. In 92, the year the lights got ripped out and everything went totally out of control, I ran a food van for 6 days and made a profit of 17k. That was 1992 dollars.

I am not entering into the argument as to whether or not it is economically, or socially, viable, just giving you an example of the sort of money that floats around as a result of it.

How do curious and his mates feel about schoolies week? Much the same a suspect.

[KrasH]

I got stopped by that road block on the way back from Nelson Bay. Breathalyser, and the usual vehicle inspector, oh and a cop car just before the block obviously checking speed limits (down to a 40 zone now). Hopefully this will keep some trouble makers away.

As far as unmarked cars, surely there aren't any riced up unmarked police cars..

[Cro]

Looks like I picked a bad weekend to come down :(

I'm down on saturday getting supplies for my house so no need to pull me over

And will be very close to Canberra on Sunday. I hope the NSW HWP are taking a well deserved holiday!! Same goes for you VG after the nat's are over

[Velvet Glove]

I got stopped by that road block on the way back from Nelson Bay. Breathalyser, and the usual vehicle inspector, oh and a cop car just before the block obviously checking speed limits (down to a 40 zone now). Hopefully this will keep some trouble makers away.

As far as unmarked cars, surely there aren't any riced up unmarked police cars..

You never know

Gotta agree with PaulM though. Certain things like the food vans, Dickson Maccas, any food in Dickson etc etc make a motza and I dont blame them for capitalising.

Out of the 00000's that go to Summernats its not a big % of clowns. Those clowns however, have made it an event that some Canberrans leave town for. I lived in Downer when Summernats was on for a few years. Lets just say it made me think that the burnout comp went 24hrs a day

[HIPWRED]

I am an ex-Canberran, and have to say that the riots of 1992 are hardly testimony to behaviour of patrons today. I'm not condoning hoonish behaviour but seriously it didnt really bother me in the slightest in the 3 or so years I lived there.

Canberrans certainly dont seem to mind jacking up their prices (particularly fuel!) for the event, so it would seem the give and take works both ways.

Along this line it doesnt surprise me that 17k can be made form a food van in 4 days. I personally spend at least 2k in Canberra businesses while there. Either you have the most expensive set of traffic lights in the world, or you're getting a bit sensationalist with that example. But even if the lights cost 150k (which it would probably not) - the several MILLION it puts into the economy doesnt compensate for this?

Again, not saying its right, but if you're gonna quote figures, you need to look at both sides.

As for the crime figures - if you increase the population by 50-100 thousand overnight of course there is going to be an increase in crime - particularly ones of opportunity. that's life. Either you want people to visit Canberra or you don't.

In the last 5 years or so I have been going to Summernats, I have witnessed very little outside of EPIC that I didnt witness every Fri/Sat night hanging out on Lonesdale St when I lived there and there was no Summernats on at the time.

[hypnodoc]

On behalf of all Canberrans I beg of you, when u visit our fair city for Summernats please don't turn it into the d*ckhead fest it has been since its inception.

Before people jump up and down and tell me how much money it brings to the ACT, I'll tell you exactly how much it costs to clean it up every year, and how much it cost to replace the traffic light system that was pulled out of the ground during a riot there in 1992......as well as the associated increases in sexual assaults, drink spikings, gang bashings etc that can be attributed to the bowl cutted boys from that certain part of Sydney that I will be lambasted for mentioning

:banghead:

Damn good advise Velvet Glove. t must make your job a right ba$tard at the times you have to put up with all that sort of nasty stuff going on, makes you wonder what the world really is coming to. :banghead:

[XR8Chic]

Hey Feenix... fancy seeing you here!!

I can see valid points from everyone here. Last nats on the saturday night, it was easier to drive around in epic, than it was to drive in Braddon.

I had to drive through Braddon on the way to meet up with Feenix last year, and it took me forever to get through , cos the cops stopped ALL the traffic (all lanes in both directions) and were checking all the cars, and doing breath tests.

I plan to avoid the popular area's this year, and already have most of my evening plans in NSW locations (hey - I am even staying in a hotel in NSW)

[Guest PaulM]

You only need a d1ckhead factor of 5% to tarnish an entire crowd. Things are better than they used to be, and the nats contestants themselves are generally not the issue, it is the idiot visitors in their tranna's, gemnyz and more recent model rice that cause the probs.

Used to live in Lyneham, could hear burnout comps for four nights running, didn't mind as much as the human doona minded though. I really like the pop noise you get every now and then.

I had a site booked in epic for last years nats, was going to produce high res posters on site of entrants cars, crowd shots etc. I invested a considerable amount of money on printers, camers, inks, paper etc for the event. A week before the event the insurance company told me my public liability had tripled, the organisers of the nats told me that because the event was sponsored by a magazine, I was not going to be allowed access to restricted areas to photograph and would now have to position my photographers amongst the crowds. I pulled out. Still had passes for photographers so collected several hundred photos. It was only a 5% d1ckhead rate, if that, but they were the most obvious of the crowd.

Is funny how a crowd can be tarnished by the actions of a small minority, though I think that topic has been flogged to death of late.

Cro,

NSW HWP are very active tween glbn and Canberra, I imagine it isa the same on the other side of glbn too.