Mazdafarians Get Down at MazFest 2009

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We’ve been so hung up on the Mazda T2000 that we almost forgot that today was MazFest 2009! Imagine rolling into the car show with that behemoth. Or better yet, taking it on the road course at Fontana’s Auto Club Speedway! Actually, we were content just to observe and report on the cars that were there.

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Surely the first thing you noticed in the leading photo was the flat black RX-3 at the JustRotary.com booth. It just sat there, waiting to pounce on any hakosuka that dared crossed its path. Behind it was a metallic gray RX-2 and FC RX-7 convertible.

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Both clean and rare, this little R100 got a lot of attention. Large diameter Panasports always seem a bit incongruous but overall this car looked resplendent in its retro avocado green duds.

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Here’s an swap not commonly seen – a 2.3L MX-6 V6 stuffed into a 323 hatch. Made possible with a MX-3 crossmember, it makes for a pretty slick sleeper (closeup of the engine bay in the gallery below).

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Here’s a little bit of history. The old school rotary wizards at Racing Beat developed this aero kit back in the 80s with lessons gleaned from their many top speed runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats. This kit even made it onto the cover of Car & Driver magazine.

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This flared first-gen reminded us of the RX-7 that Kev posted and everyone fell in love with a while back. It sang with the baritone of a street-port 13B and the driver was absolutely tearing up the track!

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The sole nostalgic wagon at the show was leaving just as we arrived. I couldn’t stop drooling over it. I’d love to see one done up in vintage JDM race style.

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Does this FC RX-7 look like it’s ready to attack the Wangan or what? It’s got that great Japanese midnight racer countenance down pat.

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The FC can pull of a versatile selection of costumes and still look sharp in all of them. This one is decked out in 17×10 HRE wheels in the rear tucked under a Tripoint Engineering widebody kit.

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The Mazda Owners Club of California, which put on the event, opened up the track sessions to all manner of cars, which is how this pair of silver Nissan Zs appeared, separated by three generations.

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The Celica GT-Four was a limited-production AWD version of Toyota’s ST185 WRC rally cars. True to mid-80s Japanese fashion, a treatise of the engineering marvels contained within was splashed across the side in a techish font.

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This S30 with a BRE-inspired paint scheme was a track monster. Even though it was a Nissan the Mazdafarians gave it a hearty round of thumbs ups as it rolled into the paddocks.

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It had flare-filling Kodiak three-piece wheels and carbon fiber flares and bumpers from Motorsport Auto.

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And we’re posting this shot simply because it captures the mood of the day perfectly.

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Lastly, a parking lot find. Love the contrast of old and new!

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This post is filed under: datsun, events, mazda, nissan.

6 Responses to Mazdafarians Get Down at MazFest 2009

  1. Bob says:

    Fucking awesome. I’m in love with that flat black RX-3, the widebody FC, the FB with flares, and that last Z.

    Awesome pics.

  2. John says:

    Ben. Nice to see ya again. Thanks for posting the Z pic’s. The Mazda folks were pretty cool.

  3. Ben says:

    Good to see you as well John. Keep those seat belts buckled! 🙂

  4. colink says:

    Amazing pictures

  5. Louis says:

    I was at mazfest this year, and there were a lot of amazing rotary (and non rotary powered ;] ) cars this year. My brother had a black fc that was in the pits but on the first runs of the day he lost control and almost slammed into the wall… I think the vid is on youtube somewhere. But he made it out unscathed, thank god. Lookin forward to next years event!

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