| Poll |
What car do you lust over? 787B 4 Rotor 71% Le Mans 1984 Lola Champs 4% 1st gen Daytona 11% Car and Driver RX-2 14% Total votes: 317 |
|
| Browse archives |
|
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
| Photo of the Moment |
SevenStock 4
|
|
|
|
SevenStock 6
|
You're a rotary enthusiast, that's why you're here. The question is, were you there? You know, THERE, at the biggest rotary event of the year - SevenStock. If you've been to SevenStock, I don't have to explain it to you. If you've never been to SevenStock I can't explain it to you. I can try, but I guarantee that if you attend next year, you'll walk away saying, "I didn't think it was going to be this BIG!" SevenStock was originally a BBQ put on by a dozen or so members of the Southern California RX Club. SevenStock currently bears no resemblance to what I just described. SevenStock has become a southern California event where thousands of rabid rotary enthusiasts flock to Mazda's R&D Studio in Irvine, California. Huge doesn't begin to describe this collaboration between the Southern California RX Club and Mazda Motor of America. This event not only draws the rotary faithful, but it also draws the biggest aftermarket rotary vendors the world has to offer. It's so huge the Irvine Police department regularly closes down a street just to meet the additional parking needs. I arrived an hour early, and there were two lines of cars waiting to get in. One line ran about a quarter mile in one direction, the other line ran around a corner and continued as far as the eye could see. It wouldn't surprise me if someone said a parade permit was required. It's so huge that one year, the food vendor ran out of food - TWICE! Have you heard the expression "shock and awe"? This was it baby. SevenStock is the Godzilla of rotary car events.
While there, I was asked if I thought this' year's event was bigger than last year's. As I stood in that mass of cars and looked around, I really had no idea. I've decided that SevenStock is a lot like going on a European vacation. The only catch is you have to see everything in one day. So, is it bigger than last year? For the average person, it's impossible to tell. I'll have to defer to someone who's done an actual car count. However, the real answer is - it's much too big for one person to see it all in one day. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not, it's just the opposite. There is no lull in the action. You never have to look at your watch and say, "It will be another hour before the next event starts." What I did find myself doing, was looking at my watch and wondering how many things I could get to before the sun starts to set.
In one day, you have to
-Look at four to five hundred cars, - most of which have some special qualities.
-Listen to the speeches given by Mazda personnel.
-Go check out the tech seminars.
-Visit all the vendor booths. - Yes all, the one you skip is the one you'll wonder about all year.
-Go see the racecars in the courtyard.
-Vote for whichever car you think should win a "People's Choice" award (which can't be done until item one on this list is complete).
-Watch the awards presentations.
-Watch the raffles, and collect any gear you may have won.
Don't forget that in between all this, you have to track down and talk to the owners of those cars with special attributes that have caught your eye. If you're wondering where the owner's of those cars are, they're out tracking down some other enthusiast to ask them questions. Looking at this logically, it's amazing that anybody finds out anything.
What types of cars were at SevenStock? First, there were running examples of just about every US spec rotary engine car that Mazda ever sold. As for customized rotary Mazdas, if you can imagine it, it was at SevenStock. Old school, REPU, 7's, 8's Miatas, transplants, racecars, kit cars, and yes, there was a lawnmower. There were cars with full wide body kits, simple bolt on flares, side skirts, front spoilers, rear spoilers, custom hoods, custom noses, low rise projector beam headlamps, aftermarket tail lamps, and custom paint jobs that are worth more than my car. Looking for something a little more technically inclined? Are you interested in brakes? Big brakes were everywhere. I saw custom discs that were vented, slotted, drilled, and made with exotic materials. These were complemented by single, four and six-piston calipers that were polished and/or painted. The big brakes couldn't be missed. They were peering through the spokes of what must have been every wheel combination available in the US. There were also custom interiors with huge stereos, racing seats, custom dashboards, roll bars, rear cages, and gauges that monitored everything from oil temperature to barometric pressure.
If this still hasn't been technical enough, lets look at a few of the engines I saw. There were the usual assortment of ported 12a's and 13b's, big throated Webers, headers, aftermarket ignition systems, superchargers, aftermarket turbochargers, and the occasional 20b, but that was only a small sampling. We get used to hearing about some Franken-wankel project that may only run long enough to gulp a little bad gas on full boost, but SevenStock had the real deal. Have you ever seen a 12a based, single turbo, four rotor in an FD? I'll give you a minute to digest that. OK, what about a turbocharged 20b in an Rx-8? Seeing an engine in a car is one thing, but I usually like to know if it really works as advertised. In this case, the 20b-powered Rx-8 car was driven to Irvine, California from New York. The last time I made that trek it, was about three thousand miles. Case closed, that drive train works just fine!
As in the previous years, the tech sessions were excellent. Where else can you hear seminars and ask questions of the finest rotary technicians in the business? The vendor's booths were great as well. It was like having a rotary-only shopping mall. Every booth had something for the Mazda enthusiast. MMA also had items for sale. They had clothing, literature, accessories, and people to answer questions. As long as we're on the subject of our favorite manufacturer, the Mazda execs did a four star job in giving us product information, answering our questions, and showing us footage of the car that has brought us out of the rotary dark ages - the Rx-8. This year we heard from Ikuo Maeda (the Chief Designer for the Rx-8), Yojo Toyama ( the former President of Mazda Motors America and one of the original 47 Samurai), and Takaharu Kobayakawa (AKA Koby-san, the former head of FD Development and part of the 1991 24 hour of 787B LeMans winning race team). They spoke to a packed audience at the Irvine Hilton.
If you attended SevenStock, you know what a great time everyone had. If you've never attended, you've missed the chance of a lifetime. However, all is not lost. The crew at FC3S.org has put together a photo spread. Grab a seat and get strapped in. Otherwise some of these photos will knock you right out of your chair. Think I'm kidding? Take a look at that 91 convertible. The one with a white paint job that rivals perfection, filled FTP lenses, custom clear side markers, semi flush mount turn signal lenses, and a hood that requires a triple take before you realize it didn't come from a TII. What about RZ's pristine FD . . . .the black Miata . . . . . . Dan's RX-8 . . . . . . . . the gray FB with the custom turbo . . . . .Jesse's Empire FD out of Las Vegas . . . . . .the pair of Aerodyne Industries TII's. . . . . . .
You know, Bernie/Mazda, this isn't going to work. We can't wait another 365 days until the next SevenStock. Can't you put together a SevenStock 6.5 or something? SoCal has good weather all the way through February, surely we can work something out. Dave . . . .anybody . . . |
|
Submitted by Dan Mazzella on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 08:09 |
|
|
login or register to post comments |
|
|
|
|
|
