Watch: Cory Abbott sets blistering time in his 13B-powered RX-7

Both Kiwi drag racing teams competing at the Brisbane Jamboree sport compact festival that ended yesterday have achieved new personal bests.

The top-performer at the Jamboree was Aucklander Rod Harvey competing in the Factory Extreme class with his Yuasa Batteries Toyota Camry.

Harvey made six runs down the Willowbank Raceway during the two days of Jamboree qualifying and eliminations. His best ET (elapsed time) — and the quickest run of the event — was a 5.751secs blast at 251.91mph late on Sunday afternoon but the big number for the weekend was his 258.57mph top-end speed on a 5.786secs first round qualifying pass — a new personal best.

Harvey’s Toyota 2JZ-powered Camry is currently the second fastest ‘‘import’’ drag car in the world just behind Puerto Rico’s Brava Racing ‘‘Big 21’’ Toyota Avalon which clocked a 260.91mph top-end speed back in May at Atco Raceway in New Jersey to eclipse Harvey’s previous benchmark of 256.89mph.

Harvey’s latest effort improves his number two speed ranking and leaves him third quickest in the ET rankings based on a 5.708secs at Willowbank earlier this month. He is hoping to make further gains at the next Queensland Championship event at Willowbank on September 14.

The flame-spitting Mazda RX-7 — with turbocharged 13B rotary power — campaigned by Papamoa’s Cory and Jeremy Abbott scorched to new quickest and fastest personal-best performances during the Jamboree.

The quickest part of the brothers’ performance double was accounted for during pre-event testing with a 6.636secs quarter-mile ET while a second round qualifying pass on Saturday saw the RX-7 above 200mph through the finish line for the first time.

Cory Abbott’s 6.715secs/201.58mph run bettered a previous best of 197.16mph at Meremere Dragway in early 2018 and saw the Kiwi team qualify second in the Jamboree’s 20-car Pro Compact class.

Changes to the rear suspension set-up which have improved traction and a new turbocharger have been the key to the performance gains.

‘‘We had a pretty good few days. On the PB run of 6.63secs I was off the throttle by 1000-feet so that shows a lot of promise,’’ Cory Abbott said.

Abbott said he struggled with a gearbox problem during race day with the car not shifting into fifth gear. He still managed to win two of his three Sunday match-ups in the Pro Compact class with a best of 6.909secs and a slower than usual 167.34mph being the best performance but reflecting the lack of top gear.