YesBut Rand Champion Street Machine The Smyrnatus is the culmination of a strong showing in the judging categories – paint quality, engineering process, bodywork, etc. – and driving performance in a two-discipline driving event that tests acceleration, braking, handling and driver control. . This award is the ultimate compliment to the Chic Henry Memorial Grand Champion Sword, Summernats.
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Summernats 35 Grand Champion is Livi Krevatin and his stunning 1978 Porsche 911 SC. Levy and his combination of car quality and driving performance edged out a tough field of elite-grade street machines for the award.
Sometimes, grand champions are crowned after one or more tries but the Summer Nets 35 was the first crack of the whip for this newly-imagined rear-engine air-cooled German performance that debuted at Motorex last year. Although Levy is also a first-timer at Grand Champion,
This was not his first Smyrnatus.
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“I had a V8 Celica here years ago,” laughs the building industry worker, who is a Canberra native with wife Jennifer. “It was an RA40 with an alloy Rover. It was just a ‘street’ thing on the oval and I did driving events in it. Levi parted the then tatty 1978 Porsche for a job about 13 years ago. Collected as payment.
“I put a year of rego on it and drove it for a while. I took it to the track at Wakefield Park before I took it off the road,” Levy explains. “Like a lot of people, I guess. , I’ve always dreamed of a Porsche and getting it gave me this opportunity.”
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It took seven years to go from building the car to a world-class driver’s car in an efficient trade at the Real Steel workshop in Queanbeyan on the ACT/NSW border.
“It was going to be a good road car but things developed,” Levy explains of the now Summer Nets Elite car.
The result was featured in our December 2022 issue, but here’s the quick summary: Although built with hand-crafted parts, tricks and tweaks, the crowd at Livi and Real Steel built this Wanda car to run. . It has built an outstanding level of pro-touring quality.
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And the hard evidence was right there on the bitumen strip in front of the Henry Grandstand on Sunday morning. This car nailed it.
“To be honest, I was a little nervous,” Levy said after receiving the sword. And he had every right to be nervous: it was a new build with less than 500 keys on the clock and these tail-heavy Porsches have a bit of a…umm…tendency to backtrack on roads and tracks. There was none of that mischievous tail-heavy personality on show as Livi drove – neither wrestled nor babyed, swerved nor exploded – her Porsche in Summer Nets Grand. Champion was in history.