2003 Jamboree - www.mazdarotary.net

Jamboree - Willowbank Raceway 20-21/09/03

Event Report and Pictures: Ben Winstone

The 2003 Jamboree at Willowbank Raceway was one of the most anticipated events on the 4, 6 and Rotary calendar. With the expected debut of a number of new cars from the front-running workshops, the event being spread out over two days and not to mention the beautiful weather resulted in some big crowds attending the event.

Saturday was involved testing and qualifying for the cars with racing finishing at about 8pm, while eliminations were held on Sunday with racing finishing towards late afternoon, the format was slightly different to previous years.

The Pac Performance MX-6 finally made its public racing appearance, driven by George Rehayem, and did not disappoint as it was not long before the car was into the eights, that it ran into the seven second barrier twice, with a best time for the weekend of 7.837 @ 171.95, cutting a 1.10 sixty-foot time along the way on one pass. The car was competing in the exhibition class so it was not involved in the eliminations.

There were a number of other cars present from the Pac stable, including Andrew Maratos' tubbed RX-3 sedan, which ran consistent 8.2/8.3 second passes all weekend including a best time of 8.258 @ 163.93. Another tubbed car was the 1000 ute, which was painted in a similar scheme to the MX-6, it ran 8.810 @ 152.28, whilst the tubbed 20B Turbo first-gen RX-7 'GASNGO' ran 8.919 @ 130.81mph. Younger brother to Rocky and George, Rodney ran a 10.012 @ 137.03 in his silver 13BT RX-3 coupe. Fast Fours cover car, the yellow RX-3 coupe 'HYP10A' using a 13BT ran a best time of 10.515 @ 134.57 for the weekend. Fred's red Series 6 'CTHIS' did a couple of great burnouts on its way to a 10.510 @ 129.12. The 'AWADSN' 20BT Series 3 RX-4 sedan ran some consistent times with a best of 9.358 @ 149.95, just shy of its 9.29 best. The yellow RX-3 coupe 'HEKTYK' ran 9.620 @ 134.53, and was a number of cars to run just outside the untubbed top 10 cutoff mark, which was bumped up to 9.42 seconds. Another car into the nines was Scott's 13BT 'GRIMAS' KE20 Corolla, driven by 'MRHELI', it launched hard all weekend and ran into the nines on a number of occasions with a best of 9.926 @ 136.86.

Mazfix had a number of cars out, including Archie Kajewski's new drag car, an ex-Pro Stock Chevrolet Beretta, featuring a 20B Triple Turbo setup and a Cosmo grille. It had a couple of teething problems at the beginning of the weekend, but the crew was able to get a hold over them and run a best of 8.056 @ 169.11mph, placing it well into the top 10 outright list. Craig Melbourne's impressive 20B Turbo RX-3 Coupe was out racing and certainly had no trouble frying the tyres through first, second and third running a best of 10.114 @ 136.41. The Mazfix RX-2 sedan also ran 10.56 @ 132.70.

A number of other pro drag cars were present, including Marty Heard's 'AVENGE' Datsun 1200 coupe, running 8.43 @ 164mph, Chris Dalton made the trip up from Melbourne to run a 8.807 @ 138.16mph, Ben Seidel's RX-3 coupe 'RAPID3', which is also the ex-Maztech car, now sporting a 12A front, ran consistently on Sunday, with a best time of 9.262 @ 144.93, launching hard, with the front of the car well into the air. Tony Khoury also debuted his 20B Triple Turbo Ford Probe, the car reportedly runs 17-inch wide rear tyres, and is more suited to a Top Doorslammer style setup, nevertheless, the car was having a few troubles over the weekend putting the power down, yet reeled out a 8.136 @ 172.48 on Sunday afternoon.

Joe Signorelli from Rotormaster has been running consistently of late in his Series 6, 20B Triple Turbo RX-7, and didn't disappoint at the Jamboree, running several mid seven second passes, with a best for the weekend of 7.642 @ 170.39, as well as a best 60-foot time of 1.13, although he did run 178mph on Saturday night. Joe was also the winner of the event, after Tony Khoury's Probe wasn't able to make it to the final race, allowing Joe to cruise it through to take out the Top 8.

Dave McPherson made the trek up from Bendigo with his world-record holding untubbed Rotorworx Corolla, after a small problem prevented them from running initially, he came out on Saturday night and did a massive launch with the car leaning on the wheelie bars to at least the 60-foot mark, whilst on Sunday, in an attempt to stay in the competition Dave was literally racing centimetres away from the wall in the top end as the car got out of shape. The Corolla managed a best of 8.76 @ 155.65 for the weekend.

There were a coupe of quick untubbed cars looking to run into the nines, with the twin-turbo 13B RX-3 coupe 'YTUB' running just outside of the untubbed top ten with a 9.624 @ 141.64mph, as did Robert's yellow 13BT 323 running 9.638 @ 140.76, whilst performing some great burnouts. Angus in his 'A777' first-gen RX-7, ran a 9.990 @ 136.78mph on a 9.99 dial-in (!), whilst the 'GRUMP2' RX-2 sedan ran a 10.220 @ 138.98. Kristian's immaculate 'YGO20B' 13BT Series 5 RX-7 had a massive lose on Saturday night about two-thirds of the way down the track after water from the car spilled onto the slicks, but was able to catch it and ran a best time over the weekend of 9.822 @ 138.59, another quick FC RX-7 was the 'SLO20B' Series 4 RX-7 running a 11.620 @ 117.74. Pat's 'CRITTA' RX-3 sedan ran a best of 10.258 @ 132.24, and the 'SPASTK' RX-2 sedan did a couple of crazy launches on its way to a 10.517 @ 127.37. The black peripheral ported 13B R100 ran an impressive 12.643 @ 109.68mph and the 'HYP13T' 1000 ute ran 11.918 @ 126.83. The flared first-gen RX-7 ran 10.920 @ 125.59mph

A number of quick fours and sixes were also racing, with the Croydon Motorsport R32 GT-R making the trip over from New Zealand along with Ronnie Lim in his Integra. The Croydon GT-R launched extremely hard with flames shooting out the exhaust as it bounced off the limiter on its way to an impressive 8.555 @ 165.99mph, breaking the GT-R record for Australasia region. Kier Wilson's silver R32 GT-R traveled from Adelaide and ran a 9.715 @ 144.46, although it did run as high as 154mph on one pass.

Vince Rigoli had his Fiat powered Datsun 1200 out and ran a 8.513 @ 158.28, consistent with its best time, another Datsun 1200 ute out was immaculate 'YEH10' powered by the Nissan CA18 engine, running 10.829 @ 126.58mph.

The Online Performance CRX certainly stands out with its massive front slicks, and broke the FWD record for the Australasian region running a 9.799 @ 147.69mph, whilst the anticipated competition with Ronnie Lim didn't eventuate due to the Kiwi having problems with the Integra. The earlier model red CRX ran a best for the weekend of 11.133 @ 143.63.

Another record to be smashed was the quickest Australian WRX pass, and Dominic Rigoli came out with the 'MRWRX' wagon to run a 9.2 before a best of 9.136 @ 148.96mph, certainly lifting the bar for other contenders. The 'DBRONX' WRX ran into the nines as well with a 9.792 @ 136.36, while Rob's yellow EVO Lancer ran 10.157 @ 139.75 before a breakage.

The event also featured numerous immaculate 4s, 6s and rotors in the show and shine section, however it was the drag racing we were there to see, and the event didn't let us down, with some great racing, and falling of a number of records, not to mention being able to see the debut of a number of new cars which will no doubt run a lot quicker as they get sorted out.

To purchase any of these photos in their full size & much better quality (2048x1536 pixels or full page A4) please email

For more information on purchasing photos, please visit the photo information page here...

Click on an image to open it, use the 'Back' button on your browser to return.