Queensland’s biggest car festival is set to get even beefier when this year’s Rockynats descends upon Rockhampton, 4-6 April 2025. Those dates place the event during school holidays but not over the Easter break, which means everything will be open and ready to go. Perfect!

There’ll be plenty of new additions for this year, as the organisers look to grow the ever-popular event to meet demand. Along with the burnouts, cruising, on-street drag racing, Elite Hall unveilings and live music, there’ll also be fresh drawcards for lovers of big rigs and Japanese car culture.

This year, $40,000 in cash and prizes are up for grabs across the weekend, with $24,000 of that just for the burnouts. Both the Open and Pro Burnout Series competitors will hit the pad, with three Summernats 38 Pro Burnout entries on offer, as well as three spots in the Wildcard Shootout. Plenty of big names have already thrown their hats in the ring, including Ryan Pearson in HOLDON.

The ever-popular on-street drags on Quay Street will return for 2025, and it’s always one of our favourite features of the weekend. No-prep racing is a big deal in the northern parts of the east coast, and Rockynats provides the only time these big-tyre, no-traction machines can legally race down a city street – and in front of the bloody pub, to boot! A bunch of cash and prizes will be on offer for those entrants willing to take on reigning champ Paul Butler and his NANA Gemini.

Come Saturday evening, Quay Street will be transformed when over 1000 cars burl down it for the annual Street Parade, another major highlight of the weekend.

Wrapping up Saturday night will be the live music, headlined by Pete Murray and Demi Casha. The lads from Playlunch will also be belting out live tunes for the Sunday-evening Full Throttle Awards, so it’ll be a big weekend on the music front.

The Elite Hall will see the covers pulled off several brand-new builds, including Drag Challenge veteran Chris Kaarsberg’s seven-second LX Torana, which will make its debut after a much-needed birthday.

If you love your Japanese cars and culture, Little Tokyo is another new Rockynats feature for 2025. Along with the Drift Cadet drifting, there’ll be an area set up with Asian food trucks, a static JDM car display, and rev battles on Saturday and Sunday. The FMX Kaos crew will be jumping bikes, while the brand-new Big Truck Display will see Australia’s best and shiniest prime movers parked up for appreciative onlookers to gawk at.

Speaking of big and brawny machinery, the 4×4 Zone will have 60 of the country’s best and most capable rigs on display, hand-picked by 4×4 connoisseur Dave Casey. There’ll also be off-road RC racing, tattoo and mullet competitions, a rockabilly pin-up comp and even professional wrestling throughout the weekend!

It’s going to be mega, so to enter your car or grab spectator tickets, head to rockynats.com.au.