Rumored Tokyo Autoshow Lineup

subject:	No title supplied
author:	No Rotor
date:	December 31, 1969 - 4:00pm

while cruising the mazda related websites the other day i came upon an item that really grabbed my attention. there are rumors circulating that Mazda may show a new RX3 at the tokyo autoshow. i believe the piece said it would be a rotary powered rear drive concept car. it is amazing how cylical life is... the gt40, the new mustang and now (maybe) the RX3. many may not have been of age to appreciate the explosive impact the RX3 created for the Mazda brand. as the country slowly crawled out of the extremely depressing 70's (emissions, re-priced oil, lousy economy and inflation) which really destroyed a great part of racing from 71 until 1980 a grassroots sanctioning body IMSA sprouted (around '76 or so) and developed into a full blown combo of factory and privateer road racing series. ( three classes GTO, GTU, and RS). Mazda laid corporate money on the table, along with other Japanese and European manufacturers and the fight was on. Mazda kicked butt... I don't have the exact stats but the RX7 won major in GTO and GTU and the RX3 was all-conquering in the RS series. i remember attending an RS race at Daytona and there was a field of 75 cars and if you think restrictor plate racing is exciting you should have seen the bumper to bumper drafting down the back straight at Daytona. packs of 30 cars.... going 150 mph on BF Goodrich radial street tires. and what cars was invariably leading the 75 car field? the Mazda RX3. awesome racing... all over the country. Roger Mandeville, Jim Downing, Joe Varde were a few of the Mazda pilots. Roger won the RS championship in 78, 79 and 81. i think Downing won in 80. the RX3 was an awesome competitor. i bought Roger Mandeville's car in the fall of 1982 and he converted it to SCCA GT3 specs. i ran the car for 6 seasons and never placed less than 4th at the Runoffs with it. (unfortunately i never quite made the top of the podium and settled for silver in 84). while the only original piece on the car in 89, my last year of racing, was the roofskin and front windshield i was proud to keep Roger's colors (yellow) and you wouldn't believe the high fives i got around the country from people who remembered the car from IMSA. and the RX3 still is making noise... someone had a tricked out RX3 in the front row of the 02 runoffs and of course i see them cutting fast times on the dragstrips today. the RX3 is one badass car that took more scalps than any car other than the RX7. ( of course we all know that it ran a 12A rotary).
Mazda could make no better move than to reprise the RX3. the street sedan market is huge and is the future of the youth/performance market. just look at the thickness and array of magazines like Sports Compact Car etc. the RX3 needs to be true to the no-compromise Mazda philosophy of engineering (RX8 has a Carbon Fiber Driveshaft!!)... rear wheel drive, Renesis powered and ideally have a double A-arm front suspension.
if Mazda makes the RX3, the future of a new RX7 will be guaranteed and Mazda will stand again at the top of the performance/youth/exciting cars for the broad- market mountain.
do it Mazda.
howard coleman

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