More than 100 cars have lined up on the first day of the 2015 Summernats car festival in Canberra to set a new world record for the most burnouts performed simultaneously.

Hotted up cars, utes, vans and even an ice cream truck queued up from 12:00pm, waiting on the tarmac in the hot summer sun for over an hour to take part.

But the effort was worth it and the record attempt was successful.

Guinness World Record officials were on hand to make sure the attempt was legitimate, later presenting a certificate of acknowledgement to the organisers.

Official Chris Sheedy said a total of 107 cars lined up to do the burnout, but not all of them were counted in the record.

Guinness World Record officials present Summernats organisers with a certificate acknowledging the record. ( ABC News: Tegan Osborne )

"From 107 cars coming in, four were counted out, so 103 is the new Guinness World Record," he said.

Thanking the burnout drivers and the safety crew who supervised the event, Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said the result was good enough for him.

"We wanted to get 100, so 103 is three better than awesome," he said.

It was not the first record successfully attempted at Summernats.

In 2013 Summernats drivers set the same record with 68 cars, but the latest effort beat that number by 35.

It's all about the cruising for visitors from Geelong

Thursday was the first day of the four-day festival, which organisers hope will welcome about 100,000 people through the gates, many of whom are likely to be from interstate.

Matt Watts travelled all the way from Geelong with his friends, arriving in Canberra at 5:00am on New Year's Eve.

He and his mates were the first three cars onto the burnout pad and also plan to participate in the city car cruise on Friday.

They had a tent, complete with a couch, to watch the festivities unfold.

"We've got a big marquee," Mr Watts said.

"We'll just watch the cars cruising around, do a bit of cruising ourselves... just basically spend some good time with all the boys and have a bit of fun."

Like many of the other festival goers, Mr Watts brought his pride and joy with him to Summernats - his 1973 LJ Torana, which he has had since he was 16.

"A lot of time and a lot of effort go into it," he said.

"But it's here now and that's what I built it for, to bring to events like this."

The car fanatic struggled to put a figure on how much he had spent on his wheels over the years, but guessed it would be tens of thousands of dollars.

"I've done most things myself so that keeps the cost down a lot ... I'd hate to know what I spent on it," he laughed.

Matt Watts (centre) and his friends drove all the way from Geelong and were the first to hit the burnout pad.

'We're not here to stop people having a good time'

As in previous years, this year's Summernats will have a high police presence to help stamp out any antisocial behaviour.

But ACT Policing station sergeant Donna Hofmeier said police would not be out to ruin people's fun.

"We're not here to stop people having a good time, we're just here to make sure they do it safely," she said.

The smoke begins to clear following the Summernats burnout world record attempt. ( ABC News: Tegan Osborne )

Sergeant Hofmeier said officers would be on site at the venue, where many festival goers also camp, to support event security and help deal with issues of public safety.

Police said they would also patrol Canberra's CBD and surrounding suburbs to make sure the fun did not get out of hand.

"We want everyone to come out and enjoy themselves in a safe and happy environment but we will not tolerate any criminal behaviour," she said.

"A key concern is ensuring the public's safety in patrons arriving and patrons leaving the venue ... and just to make sure that everyone's having a good time and not being harassed."

Sergeant Hofmeier said last year's festival goers were relatively well-behaved, with 67 traffic infringements issued and only one assault charge, and she expected this year to be the same.

Summernats co-owner Mr Lopez said police had been very supportive in helping organisers manage the event.

"We've got a great deal of respect for the police and what they do," he said.