I really enjoy Drag racing. Probably the easiest way to place cars in a pecking order of performance. The excitement of rowing gears door to door trying to edge ahead. I watch a lot of racing at the strip on the YouTubes. Fullboost, 1320 Video, That racing channel, the usuals for my content. My Drag racing knowledge is no more the then next blokes all things considered. Its definitely a sport I needed to witness in the flesh at an elite level, so when Brett offered a ticket to the Sunday Jamboree I Jumped at it.
The event was originally scheduled for March but the severe rain was pounding the East Coast during that time had forced the event to be postponed to mid May. The decision not to run it in the rain and have cars become submarines was a great one and mother nature rewarded us with a gorgeous day with no clouds in the sky and nice temperate, perfect track and racing conditions.
The Day started off dangerously early for me. Getting to Brett's place around 5am. Then onto Pat's place ( Brett's brother, ( who also owned the rocketbunny 180sx, GO CHECK HIS FEATURED CAR ARTICLE OUT ! ) ) where we jumped into his 335i and blasted over to Will's place ( Pats and Brett's mate ) to pick him up and then begin the cruise up to Sydney motorsport park. A leg cramp inducing wait in the entry line finally gave way to a pit lane full of cold starts and the mixed smells of race fuels. To Quote Anakin Skywalker " This is where the fun begins. "
We wandered through the pits with our eyes being drawn from one radical race car to the next until we came to the base of the stairs which lead to the grand stands. With every step inching us closer to the action the sound bellowed more and more, reaching the summit welcomed us to the glorious quarter mile of sticky black stuff that the whole event is centred around. We took a seat near the start line and I shoved my earplugs in like the lightweight I am and focused my eyes on a PAC rx3 staging up. As tree lights fell, we all got smacked with a angry anti-lag build up you could feel in your chest followed by a 5 foot high wheelie as it left the line. With a smile from ear to ear we got comfy and enjoyed the mornings races.
With the track temperature still cool, not many passes were made without the foot of the driver being lifted to keep the car straight. But being a nice temperature day and no clouds in the sky, track conditions and racing conditions were only gonna improve as they day went on. With that in mind we all wandered over to the show and shine part of the event which was located on the far side of the strip. Some incredible cars were on display there, A fair variety of cars from Mustangs to Rx4s. A couple Favs of mine along with probably most peoples favs would be the Mistubishi mirage with the Evo 5 driveline swap and bodykit mould/swap. This car was very neatly done and looked awesome.
Mirage Gang rise up !! Also the Datsun ute with the 13b up front and a Big old Turbo in the tray, sitting infront of two giant canisters serving as the fuel tanks buy styled to look like massive 1 million shot NOS Nitrous bottles.
After the show and shine walkthrough we returned to the pits and witnessed teams throwing bags of ice onto engine bays and directing ground fans towards the radiators in the attempt to chill them heat soaked motors. Interesting how the event housed budgets and cars of all sizes. Examples being the Massive teams like Croydon Racing Developments bringing their 18 wheeler semi-trailers with large teams and that even had merchandise for sale. At the other end are some Veterans just bringing their All engine drag cars on a trailer attached to their ute and a toolbox of tools, and when their car broke that was their event over.
Returning to the strip I had my little fan boy moments while watching Ben Neal from Benny's Custom works run his famous Barra Cresta down the strip next to a 2000hp Twin turbo XW Falcon that was pedalling the entire track. Andrew Hawkins from Motive video was also doing the rounds at the starter grid with his Media High vis on. The Fullboost Brothers Luke and Jordan attended the event but sadly I never managed to spot them.
The event ran well into the night but we left late afternoon to return back to Canberra. A departing treat was watching JUN II race King 32 down the strip. Both cars pedalled it hard along their run while still managing a very low 7. Favourite class to watch would have to be the J275 class, which limits the width of the competing cars Radial tyre to 275mm. This class had the most ' street cars' and the tyre was the limiting factor to deter the huge sums of power the vehicles were making successfully being put to the tar.
I learnt some interesting facts on the day ( mind you half my "learning" was Brett explaining it to me after I'd observe the car or crew doing something and look slightly puzzled for a minute ). At the Startline burnout. The 3/4 chassis and more serious cars do their burnouts almost to the length of the 1/8th mile, and its as straighter skid as they can do. This is because they want to leave hot rubber where they're gonna run over to help them hook up as much as possible. Also most teams have tow cars to go drag the cars back from the finish line side of the track because they are running such little fuel their car wouldn't make the round trip and or also running such small radiators if none at all that the car' engines would cook. Chalk gets applied to wheelie bars sometimes so team's have a vivsble evidence on how the car behaved on launch. Allowing them to know what adjustments to the suspension are required for a neater launch off the line.
It was a awesome day all in all, definitely recommend everyone to go see any form of Drag racing. Hoping to see another even in the not too distant future.