Those kings of boost were back at Sydney Dragway but despite battling heavy intermittent showers the Sydney Jamboree was run and done eventually…almost!
After drying the track twice to the point of having cars in the burnout box before a third downpour that lasted only matter of minutes finished any chance of the Jamboree happening on the scheduled Saturday. Sunday was marked as the rain date with a much more promising forecast and the majority of racers returned in front of a decent crowd, cruelly however drag racing’s mortal enemy returned to drench the track just shy of finals time.
Factory Xtreme is now the front line class at the Jamboree which is packed full of world record holding machines. We didn’t see any new world marks set this event from Factory Xtreme but they came damn close.
Zoran Gajic pushed the little 2JZ BMW through the shake to a 6.52 at 228MPH, to become the second fastest Sport Compact car in the world.
In other highlights the quickest car on the day though was Rod Harvey with a 6.39/225MPH PB.
The PAC Performance Mazda6 was looking to reclaim the rotary world record but discovered a gremlin on the day and went back on the trailer early with a 6.63.
Scott Porter’s 6.53 was the best the Infinity went, the potential of this already world record holding V6 is limitless.
Milos Paviovic powered the 2JZ Celica to a 6.60/228MPH.
The other Mazda6 rotary in the field was from Mazfix with Archie Kajewski doing the steering for a 6.80/207MPH.
The final was to be a face off between the two Gas Motorsports cars of Signorelli and Gajic.
Pro Turbo was headed in qualifying by Mick Farrell’s 20B RX7 with a 7.58.
During the three racing rounds the VL of Anthony Maatouk just kept going quicker at quicker ripping out a 7.26 at 197MPH from the RB30 in the final racing round! Had the final been run it would have been Maatouk and Farrell squaring off.
Sam Sadek had a issue of blowing slicks in burnouts all day.
Gina Bullians and Brad McIlroy rounded out the returning Pro Turbo field with bests of 7.61 and 7.79 respectively.
Pro Compact was just starting its third round of racing went the wet stuff fell, Michael Baghdadi was the class of the field with a 6.91 at a SR20 world record setting 206MPH from the four cylinder S15.
Kelly Corbett had qualified second recording a 7.21 in the Jett Racing Datto before the 4G63 decided to eat itself in spectacular style during a burnout.
Ben Bray cracked the whip on the ex Ian Brown Pro Stocker now sporting a SR20 and Nissan badge to a 6.94 at 196MPH, the latest member of the four banger six second club.
Jamie Marshall made the long drive over from Sport Compact bare WA to play with the big boys and took back a 7.75 ET.
Debuting a re-bodied 200SX Chris Tait had the wildest run of the day crossing lanes in dramatic fashion.
Pro Sports Bike was all flying Hayabusa’s, A Leonard Azzopardi rip snorting 7.51 at 188MPH was the quickest from the no bar brigade, Azzopardi would of faced Matt Gildon in the final.
The event is not just for Super Compact cars anymore, turbo and EFI V8’s also fit into the Jamboree technology mold, Outlaw 10.5 were invited for some exhibition passes, the Moits Racing Mustang continued to step up blasting a new PB. 6.17/240MPH.
Even though he had the radial boots on, Daniel Nunziante was looking for the first six from a radial car in Australia and went so close with a 7.06 at 215MPH.
Modified 10.5 was a little short of numbers on the rain date, Joe Gauci’s Cortina runs on rails and steamrolled consistent 7.20’s all day.
A tough 7.62/186 from Mick Arnolds HT Ute sporting a 400ci small block with the addition of one big huffer was the old Holdens best pass, but it all went wrong on this one above.
Somehow there is 540 cubes of turbocharged BBC jammed between the rails of Nikki Hepburn’s Gemini . She scorched the quarter in a personal best 7.16 at 197MPH to head the Extreme class.
The nitrous kicked in on Bobby Mihaljevic’s Torana, he was slated to face the turbo VK of Bill Nacovski in the Extreme final.
The small tyre army in Street 289 are known for their wheelstands, Dominic Perri did not disappoint.
Eyad Shalabi was into it too.
Gas Motorsports proved they are the speed kings this event, Po Tung’s Supra clocked a world full bodied Supra record at 207MPH on a 7.64.
Modified Compact is a mix and mash of everything non v8 in nature that don’t fit into the above classes. Scott Cousins had low ET with a 7.56 from the little 2JZ Dato.
Michael Ryan broke into the eights with a 8.97 PB, the EB has been slowly creeping up in performance for sometime since its streeter days and now will be given a rebuild.
Street driven Skyline of James Cannavo was on song with a 9.24
Shaun Manfredotti and a small issue of keeping his intercooler piping connected.
The “Rotog33k” Daniel Ruggier was to challenge James Thomas in the final.
Who said you need a turbo to make a Sport Compact engine go, the All Motor class are showing what is possible without any forced induction. Charlie Constanzo’s 9.68 out of a 13B is world class.
Benny Tran rocket his 2.4L Civic to a 10.50 at 131MPH, certainly would embarrass a lot of bigger cube V8’s.
The RX3 of Marko Grgich headed the Street Compact class with a 11.20.
Before the rains came Grgich, David McGregor and Ciprian Pascu were all left in eliminations.
There was one final completed and that was for Sports Bike where Geoff Veigel downed the Simmonator also known as Robert Simmonds.
There is also one or two other side attractions at the Jamboree!