nd that's the way that Jon Davison likes it. Over the years, Jon has put a lot of effort into assuring the entrants, that when they came to his event, they were in for a good time. Where else can you cruise freely on a purpose built racetrack and do a burnout in the middle of the day without getting blasted for thirty seconds of fun? Get back to us when you find an answer!
   This was my first trip to the EASTERNATS. It became an absolute necessity to see what all the hype was about. No matter whom I talked to, they all have one thing to say - brilliant. And now that I've been, I have to agree.
   When we drove into the grounds at a little after 7.30am on Good Friday, the car park and scrutineering areas were filled with Pro-Street Holden's, tough Fords and just about anything else you could think of. And that was from what we saw between the front gate and our stand space on the concourse area. After we set-up our stand, we headed to the pits for a look around. If you, like us, had expected to see some outrageous cars, you weren't disappointed. Mountain motors were everywhere. None though, were as tall as Kevin Grech's blown big block Chev (complete with triple Holley carbs) equipped Holden One-­Tonner, and James Scarlett's blown 308­powered HZ sedan. Between the two of them, they had the "Worlds Tallest Engine" category covered.
   The pit lane was packed from wall-to-wall with car owners anxiously awaiting the green light to get onto the track. When that time had come, they pushed their cars to the absolute limit down the access road onto Peter Brock straight. As with previous years, chicanes were placed around the circuit to slow down drivers who thought they could be the next Skaife. Still, there were a couple of incidents that happened purely because the drivers didn't know when to stop. On more than one occasion, a Commodore had speared off the track and into the guardrail. One of these took place right in front of the main grandstand! The cheers and jeers were deafening.

   Unlike other events, burnouts were encouraged!
   Two official areas were put aside for burnouts - one on the back straight, and one in front of pit lane.
   This allowed entrants to put on a show for the appreciative crowds that were by now three or four deep and occupying every inch of available space along the fence line.
   The cheers, hand clapping and raised fists were enough to keep the drivers coming back for more.
And come back they did.
   The serious burnout contenders had their pit garages stacked with spare wheels and tyres. By the end of the show on Sunday, only a few survived.
   Although many of the 650-plus entrants were at the EASTERNATS simply to destroy the rear treads as quickly as possible, there were some people that wanted to show off their cars in the show'n’shine.
   There weren’t a lot of cars on display, probably just 50 or so, but the ones that were there were stunning.
   James Scarlett had two more cars at the show 'n’ shine, including the ex-Howard Astill XA Coupe and the ex-Mark Sanders HK Monaro. It was great to see these cars still in pristine condition and on display for all to see.
   Obviously, they drew a big crowd all weekend.
   Other show stunners included a brilliant LJ XU1 that had one of the neatest six cylinder engine bays I’ve seen.
   The Ford fans were well represented as well with a tubbed XR Falcon and a trick turbo six powered XF Falcon to name but a few.
   Saturday morning saw heavy fog that blanketed the track. From the pit wall, you couldn’t see the far side of the track, so it was deemed too dangerous to start the cruising, which was delayed for an hour or so.
   This gave the swelling crowd the opportunity to check out the action in the pits, at the show and along trader alley. But as soon as the Announcer told the pit staff to lift the boom gate, all eyes were towards the track.
   The burnouts were on again!
By lunchtime, the official cruising had finished for the day. It was time for the Go to Whoa to begin.
   The beauty of the EASTERNATS is that all of the driving events are held on the main straight in front of the massive grandstand. There’s enough seating for thousands of spectators to sit under cover to watch the cruising, go-whoa and burnouts.
Saturday afternoon also saw the Burnout qualifying session.
The line up of contenders was long and featured some heavy hitters that were considered by many as masters of the event.

   The shapes and sizes of the cars were as varied as they get. Chev pickup’ s lined up beside V8 Gemini’s and stock Commodores mixed it with the latest BA XR Falcon’s.
   The Thirlmere Fryers club had brought along plenty of tough cars from NSW and were determined to put on a good show.
   You only had to see the stockpile of rubber in the club’s pit-side garage to realise that they weren’t there to take it easy.
Right from the outset the action was furious.
   Everyone wanted to make the cut for Sunday’s finals and weren’t holding back one bit. Plenty of tyres were blown off the rims; engine’s spewed coolant onto the track and more than a few cars had fuel problems resulting in the crowd’s disapproval. By the end of the qualifying period, I had choked on way too much smoked and shot plenty of film.
   No doubt, the crowd had gone home satisfied and looked forward to doing it all over again the next day.
Sunday was always going to be huge. By the time we had set our stand up again, the crowd had already broken previous records.
    You really couldn’t move.
   The pit area was overcrowded with cars waiting for a chance to cruise the track, and the line of entrants at the back of the pits was ten times that amount.
   But it was the heads-up drag racing and burnout finals that the punters had come to see.
   The rules for the drags were simple.
     You lose - you’re out!
   The winner advanced to the next round and eventually, there would be just two left.
Those two were Jason Hoctor in his Windsor powered Cortina and Mick Voase in his big block LX hatch. Both cars had to ease on the loud pedal to eliminate wheel spin. By mid track, the two were side by side but then the muscle of the big-cube Chev flexed and Mick ran away with the title. He also backed that up with a win on the Dyno with 707.7 horsepower!
   With word coming over the PA that the burnout finals were soon to commence, the crowd that had assembled around the start line of the drags moved towards the quickly filling grandstand. In all, there were 61competitors vying for the title of the Burnout King.
   As you’d expect, it was a battle that could see only one winner and most entrants had decided to go for driving action rather than a complete smokescreen.
   Controlled mayhem was the order of the day as each two-minute session saw plenty of donut-action, figure eights and eventually popped tyres.
The crowds loved it!

Commander Thunder and the Stunts Unlimited Team entertained the masses with several passes down the main straight - some on two wheels and some in clouds of smoke. To find out where to see them next, check out:
www.stuntsunlimited.com.au

There were many memorable performances.
Brett Woods’ effort included power slides within inches of the concrete wall and guardrail and earned him a third place outright.
The owner of the yellow V8 Gemini was unlucky not to have won himself a spot in the Top 3 as well with a driving display that
showed he was either skillfull behind the wheel or had balls the size of watermelons.
Whatever the reason, his routine went from one end of the burnout track to the other and back again - usually sideways with smoke pouring from the rear bags. In 2003, the honours went to Clint Ogilvie in his hot pink LJ Torana. Qualifying in the number one position, he was always going to be the favourite. If crowd reaction accounted for anything, he was well on the way to the winner’s podium.
For us, Sandown Raceway is the place to be over the Easter period. Now that we’ve seen, smelt and experienced the action first hand, we know where we’ll be eating our chocolate bunnies from now on.

IS BIGGER BETTER?

   Kevin Grech and James Scarlett went for all out impact with the Holden’s engines.
   Kevin’ s one-Tonner sports a massive spacer between the big block and the blower which helps get the triple Holley carbs and air cleaner higher than the roofline. James’ HZ gets two Predator carbs on a blown 308 with a spacer under the scoop. Both cars grabbed plenty of attention over the weekend for their “over-the-top” engine hardware.