HERE is some massive news for the West Aussie car scene: the crack team who have brought you Street Machine Summernats for the past 10 years and, more recently, MotorEx, have come on board to help bring Motorvation back to its former glory. This is no hostile takeover – more like a match made in heaven.

“We’d been asked a bunch of times about doing a show in WA, so after Summernats this year, I reached out to the Motorplex about working together, because I knew about Motorvation and its long history and great heritage,” Andy Lopez from Summernats says. “Summernats and Motorvation had always had a certain synergy. In the glory days, a truck would leave Summernats and head west with some of the best burnout and elite cars. When we bought Summernats back in 2009, we’d hear these stories about this legendary show in the west.”

Those conversations had just started to take shape when bastard coronavirus chucked a spanner in the works and not much happened until August. While Andy and his team were in Alice Springs preparing for Red CentreNATS (which went off without a hitch and showed that a safe and enjoyable event could be achieved in the COVID era), the Motorplex started up the conversation again. “We’re looking at a real partnership around programming, awards, judging and other content,” Andy says. Motorvation has been a Superstars qualifying event for MotorEx, so there’s already a standing relationship there.

Something that should really get burnout fans champing at the bit is that the ’Nats team will be bringing the Burnout Masters brand to Motorvation, so not only will you be able to qualify for Summernats Burnout Masters, but someone will be crowned Motorvation Burnout Master as well.

There’s only a couple of months to go, so there’s a lot of work to do, but Andy’s got a good idea of what they want to achieve: “Our goal is to help build up the elite and show car element and improve the judging, as well as reshape the cruising and make time for more of it. We want to take Motorvation back to its former glory, but better.”

One addition that they’re working on from the Summernats playbook is Skid Row, a dedicated spot on the cruise track for those who are keen to cut loose a little but don’t want to smash a whole set of tyres on the burnout pad. It’s been a massive hit at Summernats, and no doubt it will go off like a frog in a sock in Perth. If they can get it off the ground, Skid Row will be a great addition to the Snake Pit and cruising life.

Motorvation is also going back to a three-day format for entrants to give all of those new elements their time, kicking off on Friday for entrants only, with crowds coming through for a full Saturday and Sunday. “We’re pushing the Motorvation guys hard to take some achievable but big steps,” Andy says. “The guys that run Motorvation really do love it. There’s a new crew that’s come in the past couple of years with Ray Treasure as the event director; he’s a great guy with really good goals for the event and really committed to it. Motorvation doesn’t need to be Summernats or MotorEx or any other show, it’s an awesome festival that will absolutely smash it by being the best version of itself.”