Tag Archives: rx-7

MOTORSPORT: Restored Gatorade RX-3 and other classic Mazda racers at Laguna Seca

Monterey Car Week’s centerpiece racing event, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, concluded this weekend. While there was a noticeable lack of Japanese representation at Laguna Seca as compared to last year (despite the fact that the theme was the 50th … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2019

Just a week after my colleagues were at SpoCom in SoCal, Radwood returned to its ancestral home in NorCal. The traveling show of 80s and 90s nostalgia started in the Bay Area in 2017, and has been expanding rapidly. There … Continue reading

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MINICARS: The Hot Wheels Street Tuners set is absolutely stunning

The latest batch of cars from the Hot Wheels’ premium Car Culture pays homage to the paradigm-shifting Gran Turismo generation. It’s almost amazing that it took this long to get a collectors’ series dedicated to icons of the Japanese tuner … Continue reading

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Happy Sevens Day from JNC

It’s the perfect day to exercise your rotary engine. Just remember to lubricate those apex seals! Happy Sevens Day from JNC!

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MOTORSPORT: Mazda still carries the IMSA torch

Mazda has been a dominant force in IMSA since the original 1979 RX-7 won its class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in its debut year. As our resident vintage racer Glenn Chiou mentioned in his recent piece, much of … Continue reading

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MOTORSPORT: When Nissan and Mazda ruled IMSA GTU

There was a time, not too long ago, when the US truly cared about road racing. On Saturdays and Sundays, Americans would tune into the International Motor Sports Association’s contests of speed, broadcast not on some obscure cable channel catering … Continue reading

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RIP Junichi Tanaka, founder of Jun Auto Mechanic, 1943-2019

One of the powerhouses of Japan’s tuning world has passed. It was announced yesterday that Junichi Tanaka, founder of Jun Auto Mechanic, died the morning of March 5, 2019 due to complications from cancer. He was 76 years old. The … Continue reading

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EVENTS: The Final New Year Meeting, Part 01

It is with a heavy heart that we bring you this report on 2019’s New Year Meeting, held on the fourth weekend of January, for it is also the very last New Year Meeting. period. Twelve years ago, JNC became … Continue reading

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MOTORSPORT: Long-lost Mazda RX-7 Le Mans racer rediscovered after 35 years

A Mazda race car long thought to have been lost to history surfaced. The Mazda 254i not only competed in the 1982 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but represents the last of its breed. It was the … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: Japanese Restomods

Even after 27 years, The Tokyo Auto Salon is still the premier showcase of automotive fashion from a country that has no shortage of them. Many trends have come and gone over the decades, but TAS will probably always have … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Watch these Bubble Era coupes duke it out at Ebisu

Holidays are typically a time for feasting. In your post-Christmas food coma, gorge yourself on this video reminder that in Japan, excess is not always best. There, engine displacement has a not insignificant effect on how much tax you pay … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Look at what Nissan had to offer in 1991

The year 1991 might have very well been, for enthusiasts at least, peak Nissan. In a three-part series that year, Best Motoring covered the entire range of Nissan’s specialty cars, and there were tons of them. Sure, there were the … Continue reading

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SEMA 2018: A mega-gallery of SEMA J-tin

It can be hard separating the wheat from the chaff at SEMA. There is so much going on that the pressure to build ever-wilder cars in order to stand out can result in some technically impressive but aesthetically questionable choices. … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Watch a MotoGP champ ride through the history of Japanese motoring

Over the weekend MotoGP rider Marc Marquez was in Japan winning his fifth world championship. Before that, the star 25-year-old motorcycle racer made a promotional video for Redbull Racing that takes viewers through the history of Japanese motoring.

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SHOWA SNAP: Los Angeles in the early 1980s

Welcome to the first Showa Snap from the US. Taken in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, it contains a glorious sampling of Nihon steel. Right in the foreground there’s three sporty coupes from three major manufacturers, all lined up … Continue reading

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JCCS Spotlight: Best in Show Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE

We’ve completed eleven installments of the biggest JCCS ever. It was a landmark year, one that saw approximately 500 cars and over 10,000 spectators, both new records. The competition was tougher than ever, but when the dust settled there was … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 10 — Bubble Era

For 2018, the Japanese Classic Car Show expanded eligibility to cars up to 1995. That means for the first time, a flood of Bubble Era greats were able to attend. Welcome to a JCCS full of pop-up headlights, T-tops, and … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 06 — Mazdas

Vintage rotaries took a prime position at this year’s JCCS, thanks to a classy display by Mazda. Imagine a hillside blooming with brightly colored pistonless wonders from Hiroshima, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the Mazda section … Continue reading

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Sam Mitani put Tuner Era dream machines into the mainstream

If you grew up in the pre-internet age, “buff books” like Road & Track were your bible. Magazines of its ilk were the only reliable sources of automotive news, but they were mostly concerned about cars that came fresh off … Continue reading

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MOTORSPORT: Mazda’s Le Mans FC3S RX-7 rides again

Mazda’s most famous Le Mans story centers around that of the epic 787B and its historic victory in 1991, but there have been other contenders from Hiroshima. The humble Mazda RX-7 has been sent into battle many times, mostly in … Continue reading

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