Saturday 7th July 2007 was a very special day for RX-7's in Japan, with enthusiasts gathering from 3pm on Saturday, at Daikoku Futo's highway parking area built on the edge of Tokyo Bay.
As 2 friends & I arrived in the Newera RX-7, we joined around 500 other RX-7's in the car park surrounded by rotary mad scientists, tuners and enthusiasts, to oogle each other's cars. Almost all were modified - and no two cars the same!!
A fantastic opportunity to view the largest collection of RX-7's and see modifications with our own eyes to see what works and what doesn't, but first we had to find a parking space. None were available, so around 500 cars were there... Luckily someone left and I quickly nipped in
Without a doubt, the star of the show, miles better than anything else in terms of engineering, design and beauty of craftsmanship was Scoot's unique 4 rotor N/A, owned by Koseki San. With 1 x 12A rotaries ported to perfection and lightning rapid throttle response, you'll never forget the sound of this engine. Despite having been created almost 3 years ago, it's still the best & most beautiful rotary for me (As featured in
www.NeweraMedia.com - homepage)
Koseki is the person who developed Defi's latest gauge cluster. The original development's sitting in his dashboard! When I asked him if the lights on his car were available for sale, he said in Japanese,
"Too much work to make, and too costly - so it's just a one off!" The whole car's a one off, he laughed.
I smiled at him once again reminded of this man's immense passion for rotaries.
The last time I'd seen Koseki was the night before 7's day 2005, as my wife and I crawled past him, waving as we went by in torrential rain shortly after boarding the Tomei expressway from Tokyo.. It was a dangerous night and he told me now that Aquaplane city had unfortunately been his next exit that evening, damaging his front nearside front suspension.
Until then, I'd never known why he didn't make it & just assumed he's turned back, as the 7 hour drive to Central Circuit (near Osaka) for the 7's meet the next day wasn't very appealing that night... (Luckily it cleared up and 2/3rds of the trip was empty unpoliced motorway).
He repaired it of course, but whilts he was at it, he resprayed the whole car in Spirit R Silver, as well as fitting new wheels and painting the headlight grilles in matt black. That car's perfection in a 7 smokin:
Leaving this Saturday night 6.30pm on 7's evening, he and Amemiya San drove in convoy with other RX-7's to the 7's meet - once again held at Central Circuit. Right there, Russ, Daniel and I considered missing our planned evening watching the dining with our belly dancer friends in Tokyo, and doing the 8 hour drive instead (Can be done in 5.5 if you're brisk
) there, to see the show and racing, but then another drive back home tonight would have killed all 3 of us!
Also there, was one of Scoot's customer's FC3S, as well as an orange replica of what Scoot's car used to look like before it was transformed into the Silver model now...(A red RX-7 that posted a record 208 mph on an closed off NZ road).
Got lots of pics to get through - I'll post more when I get a chance
Miguel