September 20, 2003 saw the 13th annual running of Australia’s biggest four-cylinder, rotary and import drag event. This year was the first time the event was spread over 2 days, due to the ever-increasing popularity of the event year after year. I was lucky enough to be given a press-pass for the weekend that allowed me trackside for better camera angles. The weekend saw a number of n12’s running the 1/4 and another in the show and shine. Pretty much all n12s on display over the weekend were on debut except for the well-known blue ET known as ‘FUL11’. The other 4 N12’s unknown to n12.com readers were the very clean and professionally built ‘Milanco’ ET owned by Rob Schmidt, a red EXA owned by Cameron (E15ET Yahoo group member), another silver EXA and on display at the show and shine was a GTiR SR20 powered ET. Rumors of this SR20DET ET had been floating around South-East Queensland for some time now. It was rumored that this ET actually was running a full GTiR 4wd drive train to accompany the engine, however it was explained to me on the day that the 4wd drive train was only some early thoughts that were quickly put to rest after the cost for conversion was estimated. This ET should be on the streets and track soon as it’s very close to completion. If all goes to plan this N12 should put down some very decent numbers with that DOHC 2 Litre turbo behind it.
Once again I was doing some more advertising for the site and the group with some big n12turbo.com stickers up the side of Chris’s ET as like last year. A big thanks to Chris for allowing us to do this again, as it’s a good feeling when you hear the web address read out to the entire crowd over the p.a.system while he is staging. Chris had arrived to Willowbank this year with a few changes to last years setup. These included a new turbo/cooler/head setup. Out is the T25 with T3 wheels, and in is a new big GTiR T28 with T4 compressor wheel and back cut exhaust wheel. Also new to ‘FUL11’ is a bigger front mount intercooler along with a newly built head running a massive custom grind cam. Although this new combination made 230HP@wheels, it only made it on 16psi as this was what the car’s boost was being restricted to. A few ‘tweaks’ had hoped to remedy this ‘low’ boost for the Jamboree, but it wasn’t to be, and the low boost was still there on Saturday which resulted in only 2 low 13 second passes for the day. On the last run of the night it blew a head gasket, which put an end to the ET’s Jamboree campaign for this year. That’s not to say the car wont be back at some test & tunes in the near future to possibly grab the nations top E15ET position.
There were 3 other n12’s new to the drag scene over the weekend. They included 2 EXA’s owned by Justin and Cameron respectively. Both EXA’s however suffered from a few problems on Saturday which resulted in 15 seconds passes. Not what the owners were hoping for but with the bugs sorted out they could possibly be getting their names on the top 10.
Last but not least was the beautiful green ET built by Milanco Performance Engineering. This ET is a rather professional setup built solely with the intention of ¼ mile track work. The car has been out to Willowbank before the jamboree for some testing but a broken engine mount prevented the car from making a full power pass. On Saturday at pre-stage the car developed a water leak and therefore was pushed off the staging lanes. This was rectified Saturday afternoon and on Sunday the ET made its first full power pass which resulted in an impressive 13.46 at 104mph pass. This slots it in number 5 on the top 10 list, a hundredth of a second behind position 4. No doubt this time will drastically improve and another ET in the 12’s shouldn’t be far away. A full feature of this car will be coming to N12.com in the next few days so stay tuned. This pretty much wraps up the n12 involvement of the 13th Jamboree however there was still so much more the event had to offer. It was great to see a new top 10 entrant and congratulations to all involved for having a go and hope to see even more next year. Might even see a certain sky blue ET having a go next year…. 😉
Of course n12’s are not the only reason for coming to the Jamboree. These days it seems most guys are coming to the jamboree for the girls just as much, if not more then to see the cars. Both days saw loads of bikini shows, flirt model dancing and the much-anticipated Miss Jamboree Competition. I hear most of you guys screaming out ‘where are the pics’ and well I guess most of you wont be happy with just the 5 pics I am putting online, so if you want more visit fullboost.com.au
This year saw the first trans-continental racers come over to compete. The Croydon R32 GTR made its journey over the Tasman along with the RSL 9 second Integra. The GTR made its long trip worth while by running an awesome 8.55 @ 166mph. This is not only its PB but also has made this the worlds quickest GTR on street tyres which was truly awesome to watch! The Integra had a few problems during the weekend that saw it ‘only’ run low 10’s. Not its best time but still very respectable for a FWD vehicle. Speaking of FWD’s, the Jamboree also saw the QLD debut of the ‘ONLINE’ CRX. It now resides as Aus’s fastest FWD with a very impressive 9.79@147mph. Also the first fwd in this country to break the 9 sec bracket. Another notable pass of the event was Dom Rigoli in the red Impreza wagon. It ran the worlds fastest Impreza ¼ time of 9.13 @ 149 mph. Once again another truly awesome pass to watch.
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