SevenStock9 event unites RotorHeads from all over North America
The Southern California RX Club held its annual celebration of all things rotary today at Mazda's HQ in Irvine, California. Every conceivable RX vehicle and rotary powered conversion showed up at the 9th annual SevenStock event. According to the organizers, SevenStock is the largest single day Rotary enthusiast gathering in the world. And it would be very hard to argue with them on that. Some 500 RXes had already turned up this morning by the time we had to leave. Last year's crowd was estimated at 5,000, and it wouldn't be too much of a leap to say that this year looked to be at least that big.
Resembling a typical meet with lots of vendors and special displays, the SevenStock event adds a unique twist for Mazda lovers. Showing how dedicated it is to its zoom-zooming enthusiast owners, Mazda not only invited the group onto its campus, but they also brought out examples of their most historical production models and some of their most significant rotary-powered racecars as well.
More info and photos after the jump.
Although a lot of SoCal RotorHeads show up for this event, it is a national phenomenon. Caravans from the Northwest, Midwest and Southeast converged on the Mazda facility this morning. They were greeted by a small army of helpful volunteers pointing them to their designated parking area. They also passed a fleet of transporters giving hints as to what awaited them inside the race corral.
How about a 1986 Racing Beat Mazda RX-7 that sported a turbocharged 530-hp, 2-rotor, which pushed it to a top speed of 244.132 mph and a two-way average of 238.442 mph?
Two of the 1984 Jim Busby team Lola T616s powered by the Mazda 13B Rotary.
Jeff Altenburg's SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car.
IMSA GTO RX-7 and GTU MX-6 from the early '90s.
The big 4-rotor RX-792P from 1992.
This year's B-K Motorsports Courage C65-Mazda ALMS (LMP2) car, fresh from the finale at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. Pretty nice reception.
But although these were quite impressive, SevenStock is really a meet for owners.
Whole rows of rotary powered gems were waiting just outside the corral. Grouped by model it was nice to walk through Mazda rotary history, from the R100, Cosmo, RX-2 through the RX-3, RX-4 and –5,
all the way up to the RX-7 and –8.
Absolutely loved the "Godzilla Defense Force" car: "Failing to Protect Tokyo Since 1954."
From stock to strip, mild to wild, and everything in between.
Even a Wankelized MGB, a rotary motorcycle and an original NSU were on hand.
And for those who got tired of looking at cars, there was entertainment, shopping at the vendor booths, a small selection of new parts being cleared out by Mazda themselves (my buddy snagged a Mazda5 cargo cover for $10!), food and inevitably, more cars. Great event with a real family feel to it. Always nice to see how enthusiastic people can be about their rides. Whether they are keeping them as original as possible, restoring them to former glory or modifying them to within an inch of their lives, the Zoom-Zoom spirit is alive and well. This will probably become an annual must-attend event from now on. Note to self: Remember earplugs for the racecar demonstrations next year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hank 10:07PM (10/29/2006)
it's like Mecca for the rotary enthusiast, I wish I could've made it this year!
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Howard Kerr 10:09PM (10/29/2006)
If you are REALLY into esoteric Mazdas, the website silkroadautos.com has a few pix of a late model Cosmo it has for sale. This car was produced in the '90s and according to one of the senior editors of the British mag CAR it was "the best car in the world".
They also had a Mazda Bongo for sale. That's a small van pretty much in the vein of the early '80s Toyota, engine under the driver's seat minivans.
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Kevin White 2:07AM (10/30/2006)
Awesome! I'm a big rotary fan. What a great event!
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RG 1:47AM (10/30/2006)
The Lola T616's were actually 12A powered, not 13B powered. They are the toughest, meanest 12A's I have ever heard. Sevenstock is an awesome event to attend.
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LionZoo 2:56AM (10/31/2006)
It looks like a rx8club reunion on autoblog. I'd love to attend next year, too bad circumstances prevented me from attending this year.
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Berny H. 4:34PM (10/30/2006)
We want to thank all that came out this weekend. I do want to add that SevenStock, beyond being just a national event, is an International event. In attendance this year we had folks from around the globe... the following were "some" of the countries represented at the event:
-Australia
-Puerto Rico
-Japan (Cosmo Sport Club and much media)
-Dominican Republic
-Trinidad & Tobego
-The Netherlands
-Norway
-Sweden
-Britian
and a few others.
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Alexis - FIBREMAZ CONCEPTS 5:26PM (12/06/2006)
It is great to see so many old and important rotaries in one place! I will have to make the trip over from Aus to the US, an event this good is too good to miss..again
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George Myers 2:54PM (2/12/2007)
I had a RX-4 I drove around Fort Drum and Manhattan, NY. Godzilla came! The 13B engine is converted to fly, uses regular gas gets same air mileage as aviation fuel. I read NASA worked on the engine seals and similar rotaries can fly tethered w/ video for overpass inspection at California DOT. I was on the I-95 Mianus Bridge in CT 3X the day it collapsed. Somebody follow California's lead will you? FDR traffic fried the wiring.
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