Monday, 16 March 2020
Leading up to the 2020 Sydney Jamboree fears of a wash-out were already starting to surface but as always, event organisers and race teams like us were keeping our fingers and toes crossed in hope of the pending wet weather holding off...
With testing organised for Friday, the day before the main event, many crews attended Sydney Dragway to take full advantage of the blue skys and good weather, in preparation for Saturday. We had a few cars attend the test meet, including Peter Finianos in his Gen1 RX7.
This meet would be the cars first since undergoing some big upgrades with the goal of running deep into the 8s. Things started off great for Peter in the afternoon with the car running a solid 9.15@147, a new PB for the car.
Unfortunately the rest of the afternoon the car was plagued with traction issues off the line which had peter unable to make another full pass on the day. Watch this space though as this is one car that you need to watch closely moving forward...
After dropping to the #2 spot on the Automatic 13B World leader board recently, Mario Rehayem was eager as ever to get his Pepper Money Starlet back on the track and reclaim the crown...
While things didn't start off very smoothly at Friday's test meet with the car having trouble getting up on the converter, a bit of round table discussion with the crew going over the data and the issue was sorted.
Mario then proceeded to blast out a gun barrel straight 7.17 pass at a crazy 199mph - much to the crews delight!
After that blistering first pass, confidence was high that the car was ready and willing to perform and when the 7.17 was backed up by an easy 7.14@193, everyone got right behind the little red rocket and its charge towards that elusive 6-second pass!
Sneaking in one last run before the staging lanes were to close, the Billet By Pac 13B hatchback shot out of the hole to record a 7.059@194 personal best, taking back the World Record for an automatic 13B in the process!
This had the team pumped for race day on Saturday but as luck would have it, rain on the day saw the crew focusing their attention on the BBQ in the pits rather than racing on the track... Watch out next time this car hits the track though, that 6-second pass is just around the corner!
Everyone's favourite street car at the moment, Dom Perrie's GODRX2 once again cruised to Sydney Dragway, ready to race. This time though, he had his new race trailer in-tow...
Still racing on the 20" street wheels, this car has many people blown away with its performance on the track along with its streetability, and the best thing is, this father & son team isn't finished playing on the rubber band tyres just yet with goals to dip even further into the 8s before swapping over to the race rubber.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see GODRX2 put down a pass on Saturday due to the wet weather which was heartbreaking for the team. Especially as the car was next in line to run before the event was called.
Two lucky racers that did manage to squeeze in a run before the wet stuff returned; Rami & Moey Hamdan both lining up each other for a the sole qualifying run for the event.
Rami was on the ball, cutting a great light in CALHLP before getting off the throttle at mid-track.
With a new billet 13B on board, Moey and the PAC747 crew had been counting down the days 'till Jambo. Taking off strong, the little blue RX3 covered the quarter with purpose, posting a clean 9.16@146 on it's one and only pass of the day.
While the racing was a wash-out, Jamie Borg took advantage of the short times of dryness, entering his tidy RX3 WPNRX3 in the show and shine and taking out 'Top Engineered' amongst some stiff competition. This certainly brought a smile to Jamie's face on an otherwise gloomy day.
It was unfortunate that the weather didn't hold off long enough to get a few rounds of racing in but that's out of the event organisers control and we applaud the Jamboree team and Sydney Dragway staff for their efforts to try and dry the track and keep the ball rolling on the day. it's not an easy feat by any means but we know they gave it their best shot.
We now get back to doing what we do at Pac HQ and look forward to our next opportunity to hit the track!
