Whilst we are asleep under a blanket of snow and cloud, Australia and New Zealand are enjoying their summer time.  Of course summer means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, to us here at RSM it means Car Shows!  Using the power of the internets we can enjoy the thrills and spills of shows thousands of miles away with just the click of a mouse.  The question is, what do you look for?  Well we found a real live Australian and asked him, this is what he said.
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Like a lot of countries Australia has a strong hot rod and custom scene, this coming weekend sees the Kustom Nationals, at Phillip Island in Victoria, the even has a range of styles represented with kustom, custom, street rods and hot rods all there flying their respective flags.  The show has a 1976 cut off which means that some more 'modern' stuff also attends, adding a bit of spice to the mix.

Continuing the hot rod theme we have Big Al's Poker Run in Perth, this has a later 1978 cut off for most cars, with no age restriction on American cars.  The slightly more lenient entry dates lead to a very wide selection of cars being eligible, although the event appears to be predominantly hot rods, the event takes place on the 13th of February, so plenty of time to book our flights still.

At the other end of the scale we have the Power Cruise a real mixed bag of street machines, both modern and retro, all giving it their all on the strip or track.  The variety of cars on show is fantastic from modern drift machines to classic rods.  Taking place throughout the year the next event will be at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania on the 30th and 31st of January, so we'll be keeping our eye out for pictures and videos from there.

Finally we come to the biggy.  All countries have their big shows, or their couple of standout events, Australia has the Street Machine Summer Nats, this is one of those shows that cars get built specifically for, what’s more it is on right now, from the 7th to the 10th of January a host of machinery will be cruising and showing in Canberra as well as entering the spectacular burnout competition.  Some photos have already started rolling in(http://www.flickr.com/photos/krustymokester/sets/72157623041278275/), expect plenty more by next week!

So if you fancy some winter sun and love your cars, now you know where to go next year!

Posted on: January 8, 2010 08:57

While the internet is a global institution and you might be reading this in a far off exotic place, it is being written from a fairly wintry London, England. We’ve had heavy snowfall in the last couple of weeks and even though that has now cleared and it is occasionally feeling Spring like it is still a couple of months until all the car shows kick of again.

So what better way to dispell some winter blues than having a look at what’s going on in sunnier climes in the Southern hemisphere. I have come across the excellent Cars of Australia website that seems to cater for pretty much anything and everything. What it also contains is an excellent, searchable events listing page and many galleries of past gatherings.  Really we could write a whole bunch here about this site, but all you really need to know is the address.  Clear your diary for the new few hours before clicking the link though :

http://www.carsofaustralia.com.au/events_gallery.php

Here’s a couple of tasters from the excellently titled “Motorist's Appreciation Day” (MAD) and “Show Us Ya Wheels”

There are of course many more countries enjoying warmer weather while we're sat here in a cold United Kingdom so this topic may well get re-visted in the near future.

Posted on: February 26, 2009 06:53