In a heartbreak final twist to one of the country's most prestigious car festivals, a minor electronic gremlin prevented the engine of the red-hot favourite for the grand champion title from starting, and handed the coveted award to a Queensland rival.
Forged, the immaculate XY Ford Fairmont described by the judges as the most exquisitely detailed elite car build ever seen in Australia, only had to come off its show stand and complete two driving events to be assured of the Summernats top prize.
But a throttle sensor inexplicably failed on the mega-buck 800 hp modified car as it roared off the start line in the "go-to-whoa" event and its engine coughed and died, robbing owner Dan Morton and car builder Pat O'Shea of the only major show trophy they had left to win in 2023-24.
"Disappointed doesn't quite begin to describe how we are all feeling at the moment and [driver] Pat O'Shea is feeling pretty down about it all," Mr Morton said.
"But it is what it is. A few weeks ago the car performed all the driving tests required to pass for rego without a problem so we just assumed it would breeze through the driving events here [at Summernats].
"It wasn't our day today. We couldn't restart the car and we were timed out of the event."
He said no decision had been made on whether the beautiful hand-built car would return to Canberra for another shot at grand champion in 2025.
"We will head back home and reflect on this and make a decision about what happens next," he said.
As his key rival fell, Queensland car collector Joe Bauer snatched the Chic Henry broadsword with his long-tailed, burgundy 1968 Dodge R/T Charger, fitted with a 3000 hp supercharged engine built by drag racing legend Victor Bray.
His Charger is not the Australian version but the much longer and lower US version. He imported it from Texas some two years ago and spent 16 months on the rebuild, including the conversion to right-hand drive.
Mr Bauer's car won the Summernats people's choice award, so was always going to finish in the top three.
"I do feel for Pat [O'Shea] and Dan [Morton], " Joe Bauer said. "But Summernats is a unique show that way; you can't win grand champion without finishing the driving events."
Canberra driver Steve Smith racked up his fourth Summernats driver's champion prize in his 2004 Subaru WRX STI, polling the best pointscore across a range of driving skill events.
"The car has a few modifications but we use it every day," he said.
Summernats 36 had its share of behavioural issues again as the 2024 event wrapped up with a record attendance of 130,000 people over five days.
Anti-social behaviour inside Exhibition Park and crowds spilling onto the internal cruise route late on Saturday afternoon was again an issue - as it was last year - and videos posted across social media showed flouro-vested private security guards swinging punches. One can be heard telling a patron: "I will kill you".
"We are aware of it and we are investigating what occurred," event co-owner Andy Lopez said.
As the risk escalated, the cruise route was shut to all traffic.
"We shut it down for about 45 minutes and then because had other activities planned, we decided not to re-open it," he said. Two arrests were made by police inside the venue.
He described the three-night Braddon fringe festival as "wildly successful". Three cars were seized by police for hooning offences in the Braddon area.
