Mazda’s In The Mountains: Roadster & Rotary Meet

As the long and seemingly unrelenting summer in Japan comes to an end, there is one event that for a few years now has marked the seasonal transition for me. I am of course talking of the Roadster & Rotary Meeting, held every September at the beautiful Sendai Hi-land Circuit, a celebration of all the great things Mazda has stood for over the years. With the company having ended rotary engine production as of this year, nobody really knows if Wankel-power will make a comeback in the future, so it’s these…

soukoukai events that enthusiasts have to rely on for their fix. Pan Speed has been a big part of the event from day one, and has continued to support it every year, helping attract rotor heads from the Tohoku and Kanto area of the country. It is in no way a big event…

…although this year there was an impressive turnout of Roadsters, significantly outnumbering their bigger and faster brother, the RX7. It was also great to be back in Sendai and seeing the hard work that the guys at Hi-land have done in keeping the track functional. Following the big damage from last year’s earthquake the track facilities were ravaged by a typhoon and landslides, ending up in the track being closed again. While there is still a lot of obvious damage at least the track and surrounding attractions like the drift course, drag strip, golf course and amusement park are all open to the public.

The big Roadster turnout meant that there were some extremely interesting cars to feast one’s eyes on, from the older versions of the car…

…to the newer.

The line-ups were impressive, and you can expect some interesting spotlights of cars like the number 93 F-Factory NB you see here…hiding a nice surprise under its hood.

Unlike the RX-7 and RX-8 the Roadster does have a future, which is at least good news, as Mazda continues to concentrate on developing more economical cars and its diesel technology.

Check this NA I spotted driving through the paddock…quite the familiar color scheme wouldn’t you say?

While the rotary line up was somewhat lacking this year…

…there were still some awesome cars that showed up.

One of my favorite is always this Pan Speed modified FC, a true track monster that on top of a fully tuned and side ported 13B boasts a stripped out interior and serious suspension, making it one of the fastest and most dramatic sounding cars out on track.

Pan Speed takes the opportunity of a day out at the track to fine tune its demo cars, and as Komoriya-san – the man behind the legendary rotary shop – was telling me, he has “promoted” his 3-rotor RX-8 to shop’s main car. They will be concentrating on getting the most out of the naturally aspirated car for the next year and plan on participating at this year’s Super Battle in Tsukuba to set the fastest NA-rotary time. Kouta Sasaki, who on top of driving the GT300 BRZ in Super GT and winning the production car class at the Nurbugring 24h race this year with an STI Impreza, was on hand to pilot the RX-8.

And speaking of the BRZ check out what I spotted in the car park, a brand new example sitting on a set of Rays Homura 2x8GT. Nice.

Local rotary shop Zesty Racing brought a nice selection of RX-7s…

…all highly tuned as you would expect.

Another local shop, Suzuki Jikou was present with their awesome RX-7 demo car…

…all ready to head out and post some fast times through the technical corners of Hi-land.

On top of the usual event coverage you can expect a spotlight-o-rama of some of the most interesting cars that I came across during the day. So make sure you check back for more Roadster and Rotary action from Sendai Hi-land!

Pan Speed

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

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1

The brown new-gen roadster on TE37's looks so tough!

2
speedhunters_dino

 @datsunsss Sure does, nicest NC there

3

Who else craned their neck trying to see what was in the bay of the '93' MX-5?

4

Who else craned their neck trying to see what was in the bay of the '93' MX-5?

5

Who else craned their neck trying to see what was in the bay of the '93' MX-5?

6

 @datsunsss TE37's make anything look tough! 
 

7

 @datsunsss TE37's make anything look tough! 
 

8

 @datsunsss TE37's make anything look tough! 
 

9

 @Hondafan I did. Tilted the computer too! xD

10

 @Hondafan I did. Tilted the computer too! xD

11

 @Hondafan I did. Tilted the computer too! xD

12

Too bad there werent very many rotaries...  Hoping for some Sevenstock coverage this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway!!!

13

Too bad there werent very many rotaries...  Hoping for some Sevenstock coverage this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway!!!

14

Too bad there werent very many rotaries...  Hoping for some Sevenstock coverage this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway!!!

15

 @speedhunters_dino  @datsunsss I hope we will see the rear of this NC in the next post !

16

 @speedhunters_dino  @datsunsss I hope we will see the rear of this NC in the next post !

17

 @speedhunters_dino  @datsunsss I hope we will see the rear of this NC in the next post !

18

 @Hondafan True that dude!
 

19

 @Hondafan True that dude!
 

20

 @Hondafan True that dude!
 

21

On another note, you decide GT86 or BRZ?

22

On another note, you decide GT86 or BRZ?

23

On another note, you decide GT86 or BRZ?

24

 @danjapan13  @speedhunters_dino Fingers crossed yeah!

25

 @danjapan13  @speedhunters_dino Fingers crossed yeah!

26

 @danjapan13  @speedhunters_dino Fingers crossed yeah!

27

 @roeby That's a tough one. Think for me it would come down to the interior. And from images that would be the 86. On the other hand .. i like the BRZ's front end. It has this "GTR-like plastic beam" over the grill which i appreciate.

28

 @roeby That's a tough one. Think for me it would come down to the interior. And from images that would be the 86. On the other hand .. i like the BRZ's front end. It has this "GTR-like plastic beam" over the grill which i appreciate.

29

 @roeby That's a tough one. Think for me it would come down to the interior. And from images that would be the 86. On the other hand .. i like the BRZ's front end. It has this "GTR-like plastic beam" over the grill which i appreciate.

30

 @Hondafan 

31

 @Hondafan 

32

 @Hondafan Guessing its a rotary, but I could be wrong

33

Thank you speedhunters! I always love to see these rotary and roadsters. 
 
 

34

@Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 @garage502 写真やってる人じゃなくても良い写真だって分かりますよね。

35

@Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 このFDはほんとスゴイな。俺だったら一生に一度撮れるかどうかというレベルだ(笑)

36

@B6power @tomoya723 @garage502 ヘタレなのでここまで積極的に中央重点測光を使えないです(´Д⊂ヽ

37

@Da_yoshi1982 @B6power @tomoya723 外人さんの目にもスタゲザク号は斬新みたいね。後ろにドヤ顔で座るT氏(笑)

38

@garage502 @Da_yoshi1982 @B6power このやり取りが、ページの下の方に日本語のまま出ててちょっとビックリしました(笑)

39

@tomoya723 @Da_yoshi1982 @B6power やっぱ気付いてた?うん、ちょっと恥かしいわ(笑) Speedhuntersさんは割りと日本の読者を意識してるね。本文中にも時々日本語出てて安心する(笑)

40

@garage502 @tomoya723 @B6power 本当だ(;´∀`)
THE 愛車!出演でも目指しますかw

41

@Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 @B6power スピハンの中の人はタイヤから煙を吐くか、ドシャコ過ぎて火花散らしてるような車両がお好みのようなので、まずはそういうクルマ作りからですねw

42

@garage502 @tomoya723 @B6power なるほど、それならおがたさんのシャコタンマシンを持ってけばOKですねw

43

@Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 @B6power あと5cmは下げなきゃw ところで、Speedhuntersさんに撮ってもらおう走行会とか面白いかもね。タイム目的じゃなくイカに格好よく撮ってもらえるのかを競うという(笑)

44

@Da_yoshi1982 @garage502 @tomoya723フェンダーも少し広げるとHuntされやすくなるかなぁ?

45

@B6power @Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 やっぱスタッドレスタイヤを履いて煙をもうもうと上げる方がアピール度高いかと(笑)

46

@garage502 @Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723それ面白そうですね~。いいアングルになるラインどりがキモですか。

47

@B6power @garage502 @tomoya723 先ずはリアパッドをもっとロックしやすいのに交換しないとですねw

48

@B6power @Da_yoshi1982 @tomoya723 ロードスターって結構ピント合わせしずらいので何らかのエッヂの効いたアクセントを装着しておくことも勝利を呼び寄せるポイントになりそうです(笑)

49

@garage502 @B6power @tomoya723 エンジン丸見え作戦で行こうと思いますw
最近サボってるので磨かないと…(´・ω:;.:...

50

@Da_yoshi1982 @B6power @tomoya723 よしださんが優勝で異論有りません(笑)

51
speedhunters_dino

 @mazdaspeeder86 Thanks, glad to see there are some Mazda fans out there!

52
speedhunters_dino

 @mazdaspeeder86 Thanks, glad to see there are some Mazda fans out there!

53
speedhunters_dino

 @mazdaspeeder86 Thanks, glad to see there are some Mazda fans out there!

54
speedhunters_dino

 @BenS867  @Hondafan Little spotlight coming soon...

55
speedhunters_dino

 @BenS867  @Hondafan Little spotlight coming soon...

56
speedhunters_dino

 @BenS867  @Hondafan Little spotlight coming soon...

57

4th pic, love it!

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