Thursday, 29 August 2024
Considering how many Jamborees we have attended over the past three decades of racing, one would think that we've seen and done it all and nothing would really surprise us, but here we are in 2024, re-capping on another awesome event still blown away by what unfolded across four days of testing and racing!
This year's event was an emotional rollercoaster and a special one for the Pac Performance team, racing our brand new Pro Car at it's first event and Peter Rehayem making his competition debut in Pro Compact in the 'PACJNR' RX3, foucus levels were high and the pressure was on with lots of highs and lows, blood, sweat and tears and even broken bones being thrown into mix!
For any normal person, making the transition from racing an automatic street car to a big-tyre, clutchless, pro car would be a nerve-racking and gradual process, but when you've spent your whole life around race cars and your last name is Rehayem, it seems that it's all just second nature!
While Peter and his crew had a David & Goliath battle in front of them, competing against much quicker cars and more experienced racers in the class, grit and determination from the boys saw them power through, running some solid & consistent passes through testing and qualifying, including a number of 7.2 passes.
Heading into the pointy end of the event, confidence was high with the team hopeful of an opportunity to race in the final, and when that opportunity presented itself, the boys were ready to get down to business! Unfortunately, this would not come easy for the 9250 crew...
After downloading the data from the previous run, checking and topping up levels to turn the car around and prepare for the finals the car developed an issue that saw the car not wanting to idle, running and sounding like a broken tractor. needless to say the team went into overdrive with all hands on deck to find the source and a solution to the problem in the little time available...
After checking over every inch of the engine bay, testing numerous components & replacing coils, plugs, and so forth, it looked like all hope was lost as the problem couldn't be identified and time was almost out... That was until a very keen eye spotted something out of the ordinary on a pair of injectors tucked down under the intake...
That something turned out to be the thorn in the lions foot - two injectors that for some reason had shorted & blown out big-time and were causing all sorts of havoc. Once replaced with a pair stolen out of the RX9, the RX3 fired to life again and was ready to rip with mere seconds to spare and thanks to great sportsmanship from competitor Tony Grgich who waited for the team to get the car towed around to the staging lanes.
From there, it was all up to Peter to bring it home, and that he did, bringing home his first Billet J, with persistence, determination, and a never-say-die attitude making for a fairytale ending to his competition debut!
On it's first trip to Willowbank Raceway and it's first competition event, all eyes were on the new RX9 pro car, racing in the super-competitive Factory Xtreme class. With only a handful of test hits under it's belt since debuting last month, the boys had no expectations for the car at the event, rather just keen to start getting a handle on the new chassis, gather more data and get the car down the track.
Excited to lay down some rubber on the fresh Willowbank track, George and the crew wasted no time getting to work and after a few test hits, George drove the RX9 to some clean 3/4 track passes and a 6.45 at a leisurely 190mph!
High temps and challenging track conditions on Friday would unfortunately see the boys struggle to get the car to get down the track, only made more difficult by a hole in the exhaust manifold that was only discovered on Saturday afternoon, which had been effecting how the car came up on boost. Thankfully, with a spare on hand, this issue was rectified before heading into the business end of the event on Sunday.
Despite the heat and the challenges thrown their way, the crew were still confident that the car , however it wasn't meant to be for the RX9 this year. Despite first round win and a 6.42@197 solo win in the third, George didn't make the cut for the finals. As always though, the data and experience gained at the event is still valuable and will be used to prepare the car, crew and driver for the car's next outing, back on home soil.
One car that ran the whole event without fault was Jason Both and 'The Joker' Mazda6, and boy did the car impress on the track, coming away with a new PB with some seriously-consistent performance on track!
Rocking up to Willowbank on Friday, Jason & the Mazda6 were ready to rock and did so basically out of the trailer, running several 6.6 & 6.5 runs across the 3 days, including a new 6.51@215 PB which came even with a BIG peddle! performance like this definitely giving the crew plenty of confidence that they are heading in the right direction with the car and tune and that there's a LOT more to come from this purple piston eater!
Another impressive effort on the weekend, Lee Docherty pulled out a huge PB in his crazy little MX5! After putting down some solid 7.4 & 7.3 passes, Lee rocketed down the strip to a 7.17@195 PB - a HUGE achievement for an automatic 13B and one that shows the true potential of the pocket rocket.
While Lee was unable to replicate the run in the heat on Sunday, the crew are now keen as mustard to return to the track in Sydney ASAP and try and keep the ball rolling and hopefully improve on that ET even further!
Jambo regulars Team Archer are usually a strong contender in the Modified Compact class with their 13BT RX4 however, 2024 would unfortunately not be their year. A combination of the heat and not being able to overcome the tricky track conditions saw Russell unable to get a clean, full track pass down over the weekend, with the only positive from the weekend being a PB in the 60'. Unfortunate, yes, but knowing the determination and resilience Team Archer have, they'll dust themselves off and be back at it again real soon!
An epic effort from team Pac as always, ending the weekend on a high as only the Pac family know how to, with plenty of good times had, memories made and epic food consumed!
As always, we would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to all the fans, friends and family that came out and supported us across the weekend and stopped by to say hi, our sponsors Garrett - Advancing Motion, VP Racing Fuels Australia, MoTeC, Nathan at Connexion Concepts for carrying out an emergency in-field ECU repair that keep't PACJNR racing, Julian from PE Racing, Gadget Pro Electrics, Dom at Microtech for helping make PACJNR fly, Custom Bodyworks, Northern Beaches Smash Repairs & David from Reese Brothers Race Cars for the ongoing support, all who play a BIG role in helping make all of this possible. To Colin, Kelly and the whole Jamboree team & the Willowbank Raceway crew for once again putting on a cracker event for us all! We hope you enjoyed the show!
If you're keen to see more from the event,check out the full photo gallery from the event below as well as video highlights which will be added to our Youtube channel HERE.