FOR Heelz N Wheelz organiser Andrew Leesing, the 2016 staging at the National Stadium Car Park, St Andrew, last Sunday was one of the best ever in its eight-year history.

“It went great and I felt we definitely delivered as the crowd and the cars came out to support us,” he told

Auto.

After adding several new categories to rev things up, it was ultimately the final three major contests — Best EG, Best Honda and Best Nissan — that held the attention of everyone, as these were by far the most popular brands on display.

After emcee Yanique ‘Curvy Diva’ Barrett completed her rounds, it was Junior Bignall who walked away with the coveted Best EG trophy with his 1995 Honda Civic. Hailing from Ocho Rios in St Ann, Bignall said he owned his car for the past five years and has spent all that time perfecting the modifications to the bright-orange hatchback.

“It was the best feeling ever, and I’m elated to have the Best EG in Jamaica,” Bignall said.

Judges were wowed by the long list of extras, some obvious such as the wheels and the full respray, but it was the small things like the high-performance parts in his engine that put him over his rivals.

Whereas Best EG took a while, it was literally no-contest in Best Nissan when Andrew Wong-Leung drove his 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R into the judging circle. The iconic Nissan sports car drew people in droves. Having bought the car eight months ago, he admitted to having done precious little, only adding a carbon fibre bonnet which created some visual contrast.

“I’m just in love with the GT-R,” he said.

With two down, there was just Best Honda, the most modified and sought-after brand in the street performance scene, left to be decided. The eventual winner was the 1999 Honda Civic Sedan of Enrico Samuels. Having already won Best Paint, his pride in his accomplishment was evident, especially given that he’d done all the work himself.

“The car has been a project of mine from 2015, so this gives me some bragging rights,” he said.

Leesing explained that he was happy with the format that he’d perfected over the years and would be focusing on planning a smaller link-up-style event for summer.

Heelz N Wheelz was first held in Portmore, St Catherine in 2008.

— Rory Daley