"It reeked of what I enjoy most about any event: good vibes."
Each year NZ Performance Car would dare not miss the trip down to Feilding for the the V 4&Rotary Nationals North Island Jamboree — I mean how could we NOT check out the best of what the lower North Island has to offer?? Needless to say when the ed said “you’re going”, I hopped a plane damn quick and got my ass straight to Manfeild first thing Saturday Morning.
Straight off the bat, the weather wasn’t all that pretty — which look to have held a few competitors off from arriving until later in the day and caused its fair share of offs out on track — but regardless it reeked of what I enjoy most about any event: good vibes.
The pits were swarming with a few familiar faces; many, many yarns were spun; and the cars on offer we hard-hitting, but what I really liked — as someone who had yet to make their way down for a Jambo in previous years — was the contrast between track and show cars, and the line that was blurred by those who had entered both with the one car. Perhaps that was the draw to this unique location — Manfeild Raceway — the combination of the show hall and race track in one venue.
2017 marked the largest Jamboree to date, packing over 160 cars into the hall with the same again out on track over the course of the weekend — some of which we hadn't even sniffed out yet
In previous years all this madness has been crammed into one day, which I imagine would be pretty hectic, although with the current two day format everything rolls over smoothly and as the track almost never stops. Day one was mainly track time, cruise with the bros and do some hundies runs type deal. On day two, it was all about the show hall however if you had cut a few laps of the hall and wanted a change of scenario, you could simply head back over to the track and watch a mix of drifting and time attack runs.
You really had to be there to soak it all in, but those of you that weren’t here’s the next best thing — we decided to chuck up a massive gallery of all the business that caught our eye.
P.s keep an eye out for the next issue of NZ Performance Car (#246) as we'll have even more coverage in print form — maybe your car will make the pages, too. Enjoy!
