THOUSANDS of Far Northern car lovers revelled in the roar of horsepower at a charity hot rod show that raised an estimated $10,000 for community cancer group COUCH.

About 70 hot rods, muscle cars and modified street machines were on display at the North Queensland Nationals at Cannon Park racecourse over the weekend, an auto expo modelled on the famous Summernats event in Canberra.

Co-organiser Patrick Garlando said the event was dedicated to the memory of Cairns pro stock car racer Michael "Tinman" Tinney, who died of cancer in January last year.

"This is the first event of its kind and the feedback we had was that it was a really fun family day with something for everyone," he said.

"We had a memorabilia auction that raised an estimated $10,000 for COUCH.

"One of his mates who still races came to the event all the way from Ayr and we hope Michael was looking down on us
smiling."

Mr Garlando said one of the event’s highlights was the Dyno competition, which measures rear wheel horsepower.

A supercharged Ford ute scored the highest rating of 810 horsepower.

The car show, organised by the Hot Rodical Car Club of Cairns, was such a success it is expected to become an annual event.

"More than half of those cars haven’t been seen in Cairns before and it was a huge effort by everyone to pull it all together," Mr Garlando said.

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