On my recent return trip to Okinawa for the Koza Motorsports Festival (full event story coming soon), two things became apparent to me. The first is that Okinawa has a far more comfortable climate at the end of the year, as opposed to the middle of summer when I last visited and almost passed out from the heat. The other is this little island still has many precious gems for me to hunt.
There were plenty to choose from at the Koza event too, including this SA22C Mazda RX-7 race car.
The creator of this particular car obviously took their inspiration from Australia’s Group C racing series, in which the first-generation RX-7 and its unique rotary engine enjoyed its fair share of success around the time the car was new.
The bolt-on fiberglass flares serve the functional purpose of housing extra wide racing slicks, which in this case are wrapped around 15-inch RAYS Volk Racing TE37Vs for a lightweight and stylish solution.
The rear spoiler – a defining aspect of the Group C RX-7 kit – is hard to miss, but it works in so well with the giant flares. The unique rear hatch treatment is not a Group C item, but it’s an interesting upgrade all the same; doing away with the factory glass would’ve surely saved a bit of weight.
The front intake is not the prettiest, but it’s still a highly functional way of delivering fresh air to the engine. I wonder if the 12A is still under the hood, or if it’s been upgraded to a larger 13B somewhere along the way.
If the battle scars around the body don’t hint at the fact that this car gets used properly, the stripped out interior certainly does. Looking inside revealed a full cage, single seat, and a carbon fiber dash housing an array of aftermarket gauges including a large center-mounted tachometer.
I wish I could have located the owner to get the full story behind this SA22C RX-7, and the next time I’m down in Okinawa I’m definitely going to do some more digging. If I’m really lucky, I might even get to see it in action.
In the meantime, stay tuned for more coverage from Okinawa’s Koza Motorsports Festival.
Ron Celestine
Instagram: celestinephotography
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Love the functional aspect to all of this, the intake feed for example.
But those flares are just completely different shapes on either side, not sure on that..
x2 on that
That's what we call race repair my dude.
FB3S
I really hope the old SA's and FB's start to go up in value soon, they are such under appreciated cars.
Come to Australia anything old school rotary is worth money these days. Even piston variant 808 sedans are going for $25,000 aust
My 1983 GSL project. Values are going up in the Midwest
Hope they dont, need to get my hands on one haha
THICC
Have to say I would have called this a GTU kit long before calling it Group C inspired, given that this is how just about every 1st gen RX7 in IMSA GTU competition looked. These things used to scream around Daytona hounding Capris, Z's, and even the occasional 914/6 or Alfa GTV.
They used very similar body kits, in fact Allan Moffat took his Group C RX7 to race at Daytona in I think 1984, with minimal changes.
One change was to tape a dollar bill to the firewall, some sort of good luck superstition!
Awesome car and pics!!
PS: Will we have some spotlight on that Sunny and Starlet on the background?
Whats up with the flares in the photos from the front and the rear? They are quite considerably different in shape/projection. Can anyone shed some theory on this?
For the first seconds I confused Australian Group C touring cars to international Group C prototypes
You can find more on this car, including video of it running on Facebook Motorworx. Engine is 13BPP, five speed H-pattern dog box, etc.