This year’s celebration of all things Mazda rotary did not disappoint, because much like every other year I’ve been coming to this self-evolving meet, the atmosphere was that little bit different. It’s hard to put a finger on what that was this year, which always seems to be improving or maybe it was just the beautiful setting sun light that projected over everyone’s favourite Parking Area on the Wangan.
The recipe for this gathering has remained much the same for at least the last decade, you start at Daikoku PA as early as you can and then once the police arrive and spoil things for everyone, you move to Umihotaru on the Aqua Line.
So knowing that the police will intervene, but not knowing what time that will exactly happen, I always try to make it down to Yokohama as early as I can. Maybe it was the way the light was hitting it, or the fact that it looked like it had just rolled out of a Mazda dealership in 1996 but this ASpec FD3S RX7 was so gloriously good that I had to return to it a couple of times.
I probably sound like a broken record as I say this every single year, but it’s really cool to see how much the overall quality of the cars that attend this meet keep improving. With people reluctant to sell on their beloved rotaries, they continue to refine, restore and really look after them, and it’s something you notice every time. This year, many of the cars wouldn’t have looked out of place at a car show, with a few known examples even having even received fresh paint jobs ahead of 7/7.
There’s so much you can do with the exterior of an FD3S that its looks are only limited by the imagination of an owner. Some ideas can be pretty wild and will transform the car completely.
But personally, I prefer the track look, and if I owned one of these cars, I’d likely want to invest most of my money into the forced-fed blender under the bonnet.
Kei Miura may not have been at Daikoku in person, but he was certainly there in spirit. This is actually the first time I’ve come across one of his FD3S kits out in the wild, and I have to say that the resulting conversion has a ton of presence.
Original published at "SpeedHunter" website by Dino Dalle Carbonare.
