Team Bray has rung in the New Year amongst a cloud of tyre smoke with another successful appearance at the annual Summernats festival.

Held across 2-4 January 2014 at Canberra’s Exhibition Park (EPIC), the Summernats festival is Australia’s largest celebration of the modified car lifestyle attracting an over-subscribed entry list and more than 103,000 fans in 2014.

On-site for Team Bray Entertainment were Victor Bray’s ’57 Sidchrome Chevy and Ben Bray’s 1963 Sidchrome Corvette, with Ben awarded the great honour of completing the very first Summernats burnout of 2014 on Thursday afternoon – a privilege previously enjoyed by his father Victor.

“To be allowed the prestigious honour of turning the first wheel on the burnout pad for the 2014 Summernats was something pretty special, it is a true privilege and something I have enviously watched my dad do over the years,” said Ben Bray.

“The Corvette is still relatively knew so it was very exciting to take her out for her first ever Summernats, and to see her on the front page of the Canberra Times the next day!”

Before Ben opened the on-track show, two hundred of the Summernat’s best entrants were selected to drive into the city and back in a special event parade.

TBE’s own Tenelle Hollingsworth – the daughter of long-time crew member Chris Hollingsworth – and her immaculate Chevy C-10 was selected and flew the flag for TBE during the well-received parade which attracted around 30,000 on-lookers from their offices, businesses and homes.

Friday saw Ben again open proceedings with a burnout demonstration ahead of the official start of championship eliminations, before Victor stepped out onto the pad on Saturday.

However it wasn’t to be for the six-time back-to-back Top Doorslammer champion, with a broken tail shaft seeing him forced to retire early for the first time ever in his 22 year Summernats history.

“Saturday’s show at Summernats was the first time ever that I did not complete a burnout show that I started, and it did not feel good,” said Victor.

“As I told the fans on the microphone, the show must go on, so it was all hands on deck to get the car back in working order but unfortunately the damage was just too extensive and so for the first time in 22 Summernats I was forced to watch from the sidelines for the rest of the event.

“Despite this disappointment, the 2014 Summernats was still a great event for TBE and I was very proud to watch on as Tenelle flew the flag during Thursday’s city cruise and as Ben completed the first burnout.

“It goes without saying that I absolutely can’t wait to come back next year!”

Across the Summernats event Team Bray ran a competition to win a ride with Victor on the Sunday of the event, with Terry Cooper selected as the lucky winner. While Victor’s tail shaft failure meant his car was incapacitated at the time of the ride, Ben stepped in to show Terry the ride of his life in a burnout which also acted as the official start to the burnout championship finals on Sunday.