Joondalup Festival of Motoring returns this weekend

UPDATED 23/11/2023 5:00pm: The Joondalup Festival of Motoring has been postponed due to the bushfire emergency situation north of Perth. A statement from organisers follows:

The organisers of the Tyrepower Joondalup Festival of Motoring with support from the City of Joondalup, have made the difficult decision to postpone this weekend’s event due to the northern suburbs bushfire and forecast extreme weather conditions.

Our thoughts are with the residents in the emergency zone and with the emergency workers who are concentrating their efforts to where it is most needed.

We thank our officials, participants, competitors, vendors and sponsors for their understanding and support, and we look forward to announcing a date for the rescheduled event in the new year.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED 23/11/2023 9:30am: The streets of Joondalup, north of Perth, will be awash with millions of dollars’ worth of classic, exotic, modified and competition cars this weekend, when the Joondalup Festival of Motoring returns for its second edition.

Headlining the myriad vehicle displays will be a 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300 Cabrio, 1982 Lamborghini Jalpa, 1958 Porsche 356 Cabrio, 1978 TVR Taimar, 1979 Lancia 037 replica, 2019 Alfa Romeo 4C, 2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 V-Spec II, 2023 Porsche Taycan, 1960 Vauxhall PA Velox and a 2023 Lotus Emira.

These are just a handful of the hundreds of vehicles set to flood the Joondalup CBD, especially on Sunday as more than 120 race-prepped and street cars storm around the edge of the festival as part of the City Sprint event.

Drivers will this year take on a more technical course, four times each, as they attempt to set the shortest accumulated time and battle for outright and class supremacy.

The pre-event favourite is last year’s runner-up Matt James-Wallace, who only recently made a comeback to the WA rally sprint scene with his monstrous 560kW/780Nm-plus R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

Previous winner Troy Wilson is said to have withdrawn from the event due to mechanical issues with his equally potent and fully race-prepped Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Wilson and James-Wallace have been battling for rally sprint supremacy for years, regularly trading fastest times and outright wins at events around the state, despite their respective car being almost at opposite ends of the spectrum: the long-legged manual Skyline versus the rampant and darty Evo.

As usual there’ll be an army of modified Subaru WRXs and Mitsubishi Evos competing, alongside plenty of other JDM, Australian and US muscle icons – not to mention at least a few British cult heroes.

Adding noise to the morning proceedings will be a parade lap of close to 100 Hyundai N Performance cars, most of which will be on display in a dedicated viewing area near the sprint finish as part of the official WA Drive event.

There will also be family entertainment across the weekend and static displays on Saturday as part of the Steel Bumpers and Beverages show co-hosted by festival organisers and the Northern Steel Car Club.

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