IT was announced today at Meguiar’s MotorEx in Sydney that Out There Productions – the production company that owns and runs Street Machine Summernats – have bought the Meguiar’s MotorEx show, with their first event to be held in Melbourne, 26-27 May 2018. “Bruce Morrison from Motoractive spoke to us about six months ago about doing something,” says Andy Lopez from Out There Productions.

“He felt they had taken MotorEx as far as they could on their own and were looking for someone to partner with to take it to the next level. We reckon the show is really important for the Australian car scene. It is the biggest and best of its kind, there is nothing else like it. So we’ve got involved by buying the event, so we can bring some fresh ideas to it and do all the heavy lifting that is required to make it happen. Bruce, Owen Webb and the Motoractive crew will stay involved as the naming rights sponsor and do what they do best – curating the show and bringing the best cars to the event.”

Don’t think that MotorEx will turn into another Summernats – Andy says that simply isn’t in the plan. “Besides Summernats, we run a lot of different events, including the Rugby League World Cup at the end of this year, we did the Asian Cup in 2015 and we do Australia Day in Sydney each year, so big public-facing events are what we do. MotorEx has a lot of potential and it will be a great challenge.”

The other big news is that SEMA – The Specialty Equipment Market Association – will be partnering with MotorEx from next year. “We’ll have a minimum of 20 American businesses with trade stands in the SEMA Performance Garage,” says Andy. “It will be great for the American businesses to interact with the Aussie consumers and I think there are only good things to be had by having American and Australian businesses alongside each other, driving competition and innovation.”

In addition to the SEMA collaboration, Andy is looking to increase the amount of active components in MotorEx. “Superstars and the unveils will always be the heroes of the show, but anything automotive, I think people want to see, hear and smell the cars running. We’re also going to work to create a festival type atmosphere around MotorEx, both in Melbourne and then in Sydney in 2019.