With the whole Covid fiasco forcing us to miss the last 2 Brisbane events, the Pac crew were beyond pumped to be attending this year's Brisbane Jamboree with a nice selection of cars, including the HiTek Steel/Billet By Pac RX8 & the infamous 7-second streeter 'PAC13B'
This year the team decided to head up to the sunny state early and use the opportunity to get some testing in on the 3 days leading up to the main event - A wise decision with track & weather conditions being much different to what we've been experiencing in Sydney over the past few weeks.
Being able to get some testing in without the crowds and usual event pressures was very welcomed as come Saturday morning, Willowbank Raceway was jam-packed with avid race fans, bustling to get up close and personal with their favourite machines.
As always we had our mech trailer and product display on-site, loaded up with gear for the masses...
Amongst a heap of cool parts, accessories & upgrade kits, we even had a complete Billet By Pac 13B combo on display this year, set up with one of our new Garrett Advancing Motion G40 Turbo Packages.
While there was plenty of action around our pits over the weekend, it was the racing that really drew the crowd, and thankfully, Queensland weather was on our side with bright blue skies.
Making his Willowbank Race debut in 'PAC13B', Peter Rehayem was keen to continue his efforts from recent test meets in Sydney and put on a show for the Queensland crowd in this proven 7-second streeter...
Racing in the J275 class against some staunch competition, Peter had his work cut out for him and while the car may not have been the quickest in the class, his lightning-quick reaction times & consistency would give him a leg-up on the competition.
While we didn't see another 7-second pass from 'PAC13B', both Peter and the car did well across the 2 days battling some traction issues at mid-track but still managed to run some solid passes including a best of 8.16@167 in qualifying.
Also making his Willowbank debut, Troy Dumbrell made the trip north with his RX3 coupe, not only to race but to do plenty of cruising as well, because that's just what street cars do!
Having lost count of how many 9.0 passes he'd made, Troy and his crew were adamant on chasing down that 8-second time slip and ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen... So after some coaching from George & Rocky and a few tweaks after a test hit on the Friday night, Troy headed out on Saturday morning ready to rock!
With some small adjustments made to his staging strategy and shift reactions, Troy rocketed off the line on his first qualifying pass to the tune of an 8.95@153, much to the excitement of his crew and all of us on the start line!
Not content with just breaking into the 8s, Troy wanted to push even further away from those 9.0 passes that have been haunting his for the past few weeks in Sydney, so concentration and excitement was at an all time high for his next pass and it obviously worked, with the car putting down a very impressive 8.81@154 PB.
Heading into eliminations on Sunday in Modified Compact, spirits were high with the car running strong and Troy's reaction times improving throughout the weekend. With an 8.75 dial-in and a decent launch and chase down on the turbocharged Falcon in the opposite lane and running another 8.9 pass, unfortunately, Troy missed out on the win by 3-tenths of a second... While Troy wasn't able to continue racing it's certainly didn't faze the team as they had an absolute ball and had achieved what they set out to do - run an 8-second pass and do plenty of cruising around the Goldcoast.
The MX5 was running strong all weekend, putting down some solid 7-second passes with a best of 7.58@179 for the weekend, and it was this consistency that scored Lee the Pepper Money 'Cash Boost' prize for Pro Compact!
With many of the other cars racing in the class having trouble getting down the track, we were all excited to see how Lee would perform heading into the final rounds as even though it may not have been the quickest car in the class, it's ability to put down consistent full power passes would give Lee a leg-up on the competition.
Unfortunately though, Lee and his MX5 were forced to make an early exit on Sunday afternoon with some engine dramas just as he was about to like up against Rodney in the RX8 - A race we were all keen to see.
Jamboree regulars and OG ST289 warriors, Russel Archer & the rest of the RJ Racing crew were also in attendance with their wild RX4 coupe, looking to finally get on top of the new setup & radial tyre combo. Not to mention show off their flash new Team shirts which looked absolutely awesome!
After a few less-than-ideal launches early on Saturday, a few tweaks were made by Rocky to the clutch settings in an effort to get the car off the line - changes that proved positive with the car putting down a 9.2 run with a soft 60ft just prior to the wheels-up launch seen below that started off as a much stronger pass, however, Russel aborted mid-track with the car heading for the centre line.
Here's hoping with the data collected from this event, we will see the car racing to its potential back in Sydney soon.
Always a crowd favourite, the Sadek racing 20B RX3 steered by Jay Sadek is hands-down one of the most exciting cars to watch fly down the quarter mile, and so all eyes were focused on the plumb purple 3 rotor whenever it rolled out of the staging lanes...
Like most racers, the weekend wasn't without its struggles for the Sadek crew but that certainly didn't stop them from having a good time and doing their best with some wild, wheels-up passes while competing in the Pro Turbo class, including a 6.71@184, getting off the throttle early.
Despite buttoning off early, that pass was still good enough for Jay to claim the top qualifier spot in a highly-contested class!
Luck would not be on the boys side on the Sunday however, with an ongoing issue saw the team decide to pack up the car early to avoid exacerbating the problem.
Another Jambo & ST289 veteran out enjoying some racing was of course Damien McKern in his infamous 20B RX2. Up to its usual tricks, the car turned tyres and bucked like a wild bronco, wheel-standing at half-track on gear changes but unfortunately not able to put down any clean passes that represent what this car is capable of...
As always though, from a spectator's point of view, the RX2 sure is cool to watch and Damien made sure to put down some of his signature, smokey burnouts!
The car that everyone came to watch though was indeed the Hi-Tek Steel Framing/Billet By Pac RX8 'La Ayre'!
Fresh from it's stellar performance at the recent Sydney Grudge Kings event where Rodney and the RX8 re-set their own Australian 13B MPH record with a flying 6.52@215 pass.
Knowing that the changes would be required to the car to suit the different track and air conditions at Willowbank, the crew were straight into things on Wednesday night, eager to see how the car would react. Unfortunately, things didn't go in our favour with the car being quite unsettled on the track which in turn played havoc with the clutch...
Now, this is not a crew that backs away from a challenge, so the boys powered on and pushed hard to get to the root of the issue before coming out and running a 6.95@187 Friday afternoon in testing.
Heading into Saturday's qualifying runs the boys were hoping their problems were behind them but with one issue sorted, another popped its ugly head up, with the car wanting to either pull to the left or chew up the clutch. The result was only one pass made, a lazy 7.23@163 frying the clutch through 4 of 5 gears.
Despite their best efforts, things didn't improve much on the Sunday either, the car just not wanting to play ball with us. Through all of this though, we were still able to manage to secure 2 wins on the day which saw us able to compete in the finals for Pro Compact.
Heading into our last run of the 3 round Chicago Shootout format against Sam Kiprious' 3RZ Starlet, the boys were dealt another blow, destroying the diff center just out of the 60-foot which really threw a spanner in the works.
The race was now on to get the car back to the pits, assess the damage and hopefully replace the diff in time to line up for the final against the Blueprint Mazda6. Easier said than done, with the rear wheels locked up and the car having to be towed back from the braking area on go-jacks...
Once back at the pit area, it was go time with all hands on deck and thrashing away to get the car repaired and turned around, ready to race - no easy feat but nothing out of the question for our team!
With the whole team pulling together, the diff center was removed and replaced, fluids topped up and the car checked over before hitting the ground just in time to be towed out for the final, ready to go.
Already in high spirits after the mammoth effort to get the car back on the track in such a short window of time, the focus was now on sealing the deal with a win in the final.
As easily one of the most anticipated face-offs of the weekend, stakes were high and when the RX8 rocketed out of the hole and pulled 2 cars lengths on the Mazda6 to the half, the team braced themselves for a win light but alas, the fairytail ending wasn't meant to be for us this weekend with Rodney getting off the gas in the back end as the car turned tyres, handing the win to Barnett.
A bittersweet ending to a crazy weekend but that's racing after all and although not the way we would have liked the night to end, it's just another moment that will motivate us moving forward.
While things weren't all smooth sailing on the track over the 4 days, in the end, we're all back home safe now the team still had a load of fun & did our best to put on a show for the crowd as we always do! We would like to thank everyone who came out to show their support on the weekend and those who purchased merch and stopped by the pits to say hi and chat with the boys.
