21/10/2026
Alright, it's been a couple of days of well-earned rest so i thought I better do a bit of a recap of the weekend. The incident with the gazebos really set the tone for the weekend, we spent the Friday test day out in the sun addressing the few minor niggles that you get when a car is still being put together the day you leave :D We only did two hits, one to the 330 to make sure it was all good and the next to the 1/8th. The second one uncovered an electrical gremlin that would plague the rest of the weekend, although we tried to work around it.
The first qualifier on Saturday went the same way, with the electrical issue rearing its head while trying to stage, essentially dumping the clutch before the green. The second qualifier produced a different, more serious issue. It pushed an injector o-ring out and dumped a heap of fuel on the line. Being the first manifold produced, I knew there would be some teething issues to sort through, and this is one of them. The injector pockets have been machined a couple of mm too deep, something we can address on the next one but not something we could reliably fix at the track.
We implemented a fix we though would work for the final qualifier, but ultimately, it still happened. The track staff at half track mentioned they could see it hazing but left nothing on the track itself and that we should check it over. We basically made the call then to pack it up before something more serious happened.
So that's it with the less than stellar portion of the weekend, onto the good! The guys at VMP have done some amazing work with the facility. It's been 20 years (I worked the last Jamboree event here for Ray) since being here and the change is unreal. I really hope the Victorian drag racing community get behind the track and support it. The people were really friendly, and I want to say thank you to anyone who came and had a chat and looked at the car! Sorry I didn't have any posters or stickers, they were forgotten in the mad rush to get it together and get going.
In terms of the car itself, there were flashes of brilliance that are very encouraging. It sounds so angry now, and throttle response is incredible. Perhaps the most exciting part of the weekend (besides all of the skids lol) was the mph in the back half on our only "good" pass for the weekend. It was still breaking up in 4th and 5th due to the electrical issue, but it put on nearly 10mph more than our current PB pass with less boost! So, it's all there for when we can actually string it together 💪
We are going to regroup, take our time to sort out our issues and then come out swinging for Sydney Jamboree!!
