ROCKYNATS SUPERCARS 2022...

Planning and hosting any event has been tough in the past two years, even more so when the event’s completely new. As such, the organisers of the first Rare Spare Rockynats in 2021 deserve a huge round of applause for not only getting an event done under the cloud of COVID-19, but getting it done successfully. So successfully, in fact, that it’s coming back to Rockhampton this Easter… 

Now normally we wouldn't be home at Easter, so this year having to try and isolate from folks, we headed home for our four days and heard about the Rockynats and the Street parade being held on Easter Friday.  

As Steve needed to head out to grab some fuel for the boat, we decided to stop off and have a look.

Boy am I pleased we did.

It did make me miss my Dad though as he would have absolutely loved seeing some of the cars that were in that parade.  I was totally surprised by the number of GMH vehicles that were on display, all of the old holdens, the Chevrolets, it did bring back a lot of memories of my childhood, as most of those vehicles were sold by my Dad at his GMH motor dealership.   Not only that, but Steve's first car was an EH Holden, his Grandmother had and FE Holden, Steve's dream car when he was in his late teens and early 20's was an SLR 5000 Torana, there were Kingswoods in the parade, Belmonts, the old holden panelvan, Monaro's, Statesmens and it was just awesome to see all these beautiful cars lovingly restored.

Planning for the first Rare Spare Rockynats began back in 2019, with the event to take place in 2020, but COVID-19 led to a postponement, which Andy said upped the anticipation.

“It was originally a 12-month process to plan and then stage the event, but with COVID delays, it ended up being much longer. That made entrants and spectators even more excited at the opportunity to have a great automotive inspired weekend with their mates when Rockynats finally happened last year.”

 

The first event of its kind – and on this scale - to be held in Queensland, last year’s Rare Spares Rockynats combined cruising, a show ‘n’ shine, bikes and burnouts with drifting, dyno challenges and street drags - all smack in the middle of Rockhampton.

Held over the 2021 Easter long weekend, the first Rare Spares Rockynats attracted close to 1,000 car entries and more than 300 motorcycle entries, while 45,000 spectators over the three days ensured the second Rockynats got a green light before the first one was even finished!

It was exciting to see the city buzzing with awesome cars and bikes and full of people.  The streets and the venues on both sides of the river were pumping. The vibe was great, and the entrants and spectators enjoyed the activities that were planned for them, and the organiser had lots of positive feedback from it, which then helped with the planning of the 2022 Rockynats. 

Given the first event was such a hit, not too much will be changed for Rare Spare Rockynats ‘02’.

All the things that entrants loved about the first event will be here for the second event, but they have also made improvements to all of them, as well as adding some new exciting things to the mix.   The eighth-mile street drags – unique to the Rockynats - will definitely be on this year’s program, along with the burnouts, street parade, cruising and drifting.

Over 1,200 entrant vehicles had almost been booked for this years event, so the show ‘n’ shine area was expanded to accommodate the increased number of registrations. 

More is planed for the Motorcycles  this year, as a record number have registered and they will participate in almost all of the same things that car entrants do along with an addition event called the Thunder Run which is exclusively for them...

Rockynats officially kicks off on Good Friday (15 April), Rare Spares Rockynats 02 runs to Easter Sunday (17 April), with plenty for revheads to enjoy over the three days.

Steve's grandmother had a car just like this... same colour and all..

The weekend program officially kicked off with a Street Parade with more than 1200 cars and bikes form up at the Rockhampton Showgrounds on Good Friday morning for a slow speed (30km/h max) cruise through the Rockhmapton CBD and along Quay Street before returning to the showgrounds).  It was at this part of the weekend celebrations that we got to hand out and see some of the awesome cards.
 We didn't get there in time to see the bikes and we only saw a fraction of the parade but we were sure impressed with what we did see.  People came with their cars from all around the country.

 

Whilst we didn't attend any of the other events associated with the Rockynats, they did have a great line up of things happening over the three day event with a few of them unique to the Rockynats.  The 1/8th mile strip on Quay Street was one of these such events and it featured Street Outlaws-style, no-prep drag racing.  It was open to only street driven cars and bikes but was pretty popular and we could hear the noise from our place...
  

Qualifying for this event is on Easter Saturday and then the racing on Easter Sunday, with $30,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs.

 

This was one of Steve's dream cars when he was young...

Steve's Dad owned one of these cars... same colour and all.

 Another popular event was Burnouts which was held on a skidpan on the north side of the Fitzroy Rivers.  They were going to fry tyres each day with some really big names locked in and this event will be an official qualifier for the 2022 Burnout Masters Series

A second-tier Burnout Championship will run on the same skidpan, with finals for both classes on Easter Sunday. There’s $15,000 on offer for the Burnout Master and $5,000 for the Burnout Champ, along with additional cash and prizes.  There is big money to be won over the weekend..

There were some pretty cool hot rods on display as well...  I would hate to even try and estimate the street value of all of these cars in town for this event... and although cars are not really my things, I did appreciate the absolute work that has been put into restoring some of these vehicles and the love, and dedication by the owners.  They were really quite spectacular vehicles.    

 

 

The "old sin bin" as it was called in our younger days. 

Steve's first car was one of these..

 Another popular event will be the Cruising...

A dedicated Cruising loop along East St, Derby St, Bolsover St and Denham St (one block down from the Street Drags and Show n Shine) will run from 9AM to 5PM on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday.

It is open to all Rockynats entrants, and  the cool thing with this closed course is that it will be open to unregistered vehicles, too. Registered vehicles can travel outside the loop, with ample parking throughout the adjoining event precincts.  I am sure this event will attract lots of spectaters as well.

 Du

Due to popular demand, this year the Show 'n'Shine precinct has had to be expanded.  This area now extends from the Fitzroy Bridge in Quay Street all the way down to William Street as well as sections of Denham Street and East Street.  It also means that you can pull out and cut a few cruising laps from this area as well.  It will be open from 9am to 4pm both on Saturday and Sunday.  This event looked enormously popular with people everywhere inspecting everything under the bonnet.  As we are heading off soon, we thought we would avoid the crowds so missed this event.  If ever we are in town again over Easter though, it is one of the events that I wouldn't mind going to.

 

 The show grounds this year will be dedicated to the High end show cars where new cars and bikes will be making their debuts, vying for awards in multiple judging catergories.  The Judge's Choice winner at Rockynats will gain entry for their vehicle to Summernats 35 in 2023.

 

Motorcycles were a bigger part of Rockynats 01 than anyone expected, so this year there was more display space allocated to them, with bikes welcome in the Burnouts and Elite Section, too.

The Thunder Run on Easter Sunday was a bikes-only event, taking registered entrants on a route out of Rockhampton and back.

 

Public Entry costs to this event seemed pretty reasonable as it allowed you to attend quite a few events. Adults costs were $35 per day with Youth and Consession holders getting in for $23.  A family (2 adults and 2 youths) was only $75 and children up to the age of 12 were free.  It made attending cost effective for a great few days of entertainment....

 

 

 

 

It is something that I think I would even consider paying to attend if we were going to be in town....  We enjoyed the street parade and it is good to see Rocky hosting an event like this.  

It certainly brings the crowds into Rocky for Easter.

I'm pretty glad that we stopped to check it out.  like I said,  I was pleasantly surprised at the number of GMH vehicles that were in the car parade and it did make me miss my Dad.  I know how passionate he was about GMH and he would hae just loved seeing all the old vehicles.