THE sound of highly strung V8 engines ringing out across Mount Panorama is nothing new – it’s been happening for decades, and long may it continue. But for the past handful of years, Bathurst Autofest has brought a whole new breed of motorsport to The Mount, and this year’s skid comp was hotly contested by an impressive and varied range of vehicles and powerplants.

Purpose-built skid rigs, low-buck junkers and street cars alike queued up to leave their mark on hallowed ground. Some of the more fancied competitors included Phil Kerjean’s TUFFST wagon, Matt Power’s T4TUFF HQ Holden one-tonner, Mark ‘Milfy’ Montgomery’s newly revamped VL Commodore, Adrian Cuthbertson’s SKIDMA Sigma, and Dean Patterson’s TYRH8R Fairlane, but there was a swathe of determined local competitors on hand to keep them honest, including Blake Lobley’s SHORTY Land Cruiser and Danny Board’s VK tonner to name a couple.

Held over the weekend of 11-12 March, the competition saw each entrant perform one burnout per day. At the end of the weekend, the two scores were added together to decide the winners in each class. This meant that if you underdelivered on Saturday but had a blinder on Sunday, you were still in with a shot at the podium.

Ultimately though, the winners performed cracking skids across both sessions, with Adrian Cuthbertson taking the Pro Class win from Matt Power and Phil Kerjean with a manic display in SKIDMA, fully laden with passengers!

Dean Patterson had his Powerhouse-built, dry-sumped Windsor singing a sweet tune all weekend, taking a resounding win in the naturally aspirated V8 class.

Check out the video for all the action from the 2017 Bathurst Autofest burnout competition!