Tom Cinnamon

Today I drove my May of '78 RX7 for the first time in over ninteen years!

I was rather excited when I was called by Stewart at Can Jam Auto, who are pretty much Suburu specialists now, to come pick it up, but when I arrived they had found the alternator wasn't charging. Was counting on another delay, except that Stewart, now what were the chances, said he might have one off an '84 in storage and sure enough with a hour and a bit of effort we got her fixed. Out of the garage bay and my, I don't remember it being so small, crawled into it, mmm, maybe an old guy like me should not have a sports car that has been lowered. Then into the old racing bucket that was mounted too low. How did I ever drive this comfortably?

The throaty sound was like music. The new street ported 13B with a Dellorto is not as loud as I remember the old 12A Bridge Port with a Weber was. Probably a good thing.

I brought the revs up, let the clutch out aaaaaaand, thunk! I stalled it. Damned racing clutch, it has been a while since I have used one. This is not going to be a fun drive in traffic. "Now Tom you gotta take her easy and break this new engine in." Easier said than done. With that clutch it was hard not to spin the rears off every stop and she was just begging me to put thst right foot down. I resisted all the way home, parked it and drove my van to work.

I had also forgotten how noisy the Mazdaspeed Limited slip diff was and how stiff the suspension. Think I'll have to get a better stereo system. The stock Radio in '78 was an AM FM with one speaker. Light weight though.

Think I'll head home early today. Not feeling very well. I might just have just enough strength to put the front spoiler back on my old car which I had removed to avoid damaging it when I had originally towed her to the shop.

I'll post pics when I get a chance. No I haven't redone the body and the interior is rufff. It never saw winter except when being trailered to Speedorama one year.

Cheers,
Tom

coldfire

iTrader: (1)

sounds like a nice car!
why was it off the road for so long? it must be mint.

and is your last name really Cinnamon?

Neo

iTrader: (4)

You live pretty close to me... I'll keep an eye out for the car... Got any pics?

23Racer

This can't be the real Tom Cinnamon, like the Solo 1 God Tom!!!!! Fantastic to hear that you kept your old beast.

Unless I am mistaken, Tom knows more about Solo and Motorsport in general than almost anybody. Tell you what Tom, after you get the beast running reliably again, lets go down to Shannonville and you can show all of us the fast way around. By the way, I have some pictures of you at Shannonville back in 1982 - 84 time frame.

My gawd, next we will be hearing from Len Welin, LOL.

Eric Nummelin

#23 CCTCC Super Touring RX7

Tom Cinnamon

Lol , yes my real name is Cinnamon. I am so used to using my real name in Sim Racing forums that do not have a "nick".

A long story. The last year I ran solo events we had gone from a street port 12A to a bridge port. The bridge had far less torgue and we could never make it breath well enough with the street exhaust as to equal the overall performance of the previous engine, not to mention I preferred winning events and that last year was not kind.

At any rate, at the last Solo 1 event that year at Shannonville I blew two gears in the tranny and exploded the rear drum brakes. Luckily I was able to drive it home with 1st, 3rd and fifth. Also because I had fitted adjustable rear brake bias I was able to shut the brake fluid off to the rear to get er home.

I was planning to get a street port 13B for the next season, but my nephew convinced me to join him in running the Player's GM Series. I didn't have a lot of money at the time, so after investing what I would have used for rebuilding "my baby" in racing equipment and expenses to shake down two race cars I ended up getting screwed out of my Player's ride after only one race due to sponsorship monies falling through.

Later in the season the Canadian PRO Formula 2000 Series picked me up to head their scrutineering department and for the next twelve years I was an ASN Canada FIA Chief Scrutineer for that series and the Pro Ford 1600's, then three more years as Chief Steward.

I was starting my own business, I enjoyed so much and got so wrappped up in the road racing officiating and travel with the races that there was no time for the Mazda.

So, now these many years later I have her back. Only the interior really needs work, cause 20 years is a long time for plastic and vinyl even though it was stored in side. Getting those bits and pieces in good shape is going to be tough.


You might see it now and again at the Microplay Video Game store which I own. Bayview and Mulock. Pics will come after I get the damned spoiler back on.

Cheers

Tom Cinnamon

Solo 1 God? Lol, yes it's me, how the hell are ya? Would we still recognize each other? Ha!

Can you post a couple of those pics? I lost all mine in a house fire. Another reason the car was put back together. All that survived the smoke damage was the garage.

I would love to take her back to Shannonville, but not until I get some big honkin braking system.

Yes, it is cool that I still have the car "that I never should have sold".

Cheers to you ERIC!

Bass

Always happy to hear about another FB on the road! Looking forward to some pics: both of your car and your racing shots.

DeAd-EyE

iTrader: (1)

Tom,

great to see that car back on the road! is it the black one that's been at their location for the last little while rite? man everytime i go there i was wondering who it belonged to and whether or not i should make an offer on it.

glad to see another classic back on the road!

Neo

iTrader: (4)

Tom,

Microplay you say... My cousin hangs out around that area all the time. Probably seen him a few times already...
I'll keep an eye out for the 1st gen!

Lates,

SavannaFC

Wow, so the RX-7 survived the fire. Seems like it was destined to be restored. I'm glad you chose to fix her up again. Great racing history too! I'm also looking forward to seeing those pics.

Tom Cinnamon

Dead Eye, yes it is the black one, but I don't think there is an offer good enough for this car considering it's history and what it meant to both my wife and I. We could write a book!

In early 1978, my wife and I were at the laundromat and our neighbor Peter Wright (Datsun 240Z Racer) came in with the new copy of Road and Track. Inside was an article introducing this cool little rotary engined sports car called an RX7.

The very next day we went to Town and Country Mazda and asked if they had any brochures and price on the car. The salesman said he had heard of the car but had no brochure or details at all. He then went to the sales manager who came back and told us he was getting five cars in May, as was each dealership in Canada and that the next shipment would not arrive till September. Two of his were going to the owner of the dealship and so he would have only three for sale. "They will be under $10,000 and we would need a $500 deposit asap to get you one." I looked at my wife, she looked at me and took the cheque book from her purse.

A few days later my '73 Ford Capri 2600 V6 was up for sale. Mmm, you know what? I wish I could have kept it too.

We started solo racing the car that summer and did that for the next eight years. The car won well over 100 Solo 1 and Solo 2 events and I think 13 championships between the two of us.

Cheers!
Tom

FCGTX

lol stalled it!

I remember when i picked up my FC and it had a twin plate clutch. Stalled it like 10 times before i even got it going.. Get used to it fast though..
I still stall it on a regular basis though

Good to see shes up and running! Throw up some pics Tom, she sounds sweet!!


Chris

Tom Cinnamon

OK YOU WANKLERS HERE ARE THE PICS

Manntis

I like it.

DeAd-EyE

iTrader: (1)

ah...ol' blackie in all her pretty wankle powered magnificence

turb0wnd

Hey, that's pretty cool, I think I was just around there a few weeks back... There's an R/C car store right around there no? I remember the name for some reason, I was just there briefly.

How often do you go to Can Jam? The dealership I work at owns like half the buildings on Guardsman :P

turb0wnd

P.S.

Sweet

SavannaFC

Wow, she is so sexy! What a clean RX-7! How much power would you say she's putting out?

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

Damn!..that is One Nice looking FB,TOM!..(note to Self:Gotta get one of them there FB's, Mr Styx!.)

Tom Cinnamon

To be honest, the paint job was a compromise. I would have prefered just a single red bar across the bottom. I was pretty tired of the Copper by then though. It was okay at the time. Yokohama paid for the paint job and they wanted the friggin BIG RED "Y" on the hood. but I wasn't quite up for that! I really wish I had some of the track pics to show cause it looked a lot better with the white numbers, Yokohama and Can Jam liveries on its sides.

BTW all Can Jam had to do was drop in the new engine built by Dave Diedrich at Mazdees, uh, many years ago, mount the new Racing Beat stainless exhaust, adapt the '84 tranny to the underbody and get her running. The rest I had already done shortly before. Redid all the brakes, put in a California used gas tank, ran new gas lines and mounted a new holley fuel pump. The most important thing Can Jam did was actually give her a place to stay for nine months while our house was being rebuilt.

Now that I can drive it out to Pickering, I'm lookin forward to hooking up with my old engine man, Dave Diedrich next week to do some fine tuning on the Delortos.

Oh yeah, FYI, that is a set of 13" A001R Yokohama's on the car. Other than being old, they had zero klicks on them until this week and they still stick real well. Durometer tests put them real close to new performance tires. Kept them unmounted and sealed in bags for all those years.

Cheers!
Tom

FCGTX

Holy FRICK that is a beautiful car.
I don't usually like FB's as much as this one!!
I would own that ina second!

How the hell did you let this sit for 19 years!! lol

B6T

iTrader: (2)

That car is beautiful!!!

Neo

iTrader: (4)

At least I know what to look for now!

That is one sweet looking 1st gen! I bet MyRxBad would be proud!!

Good old Dave knows how to build engines. I just hope he'll be able to recognize you...

coldfire

iTrader: (1)

very nice.
yeah, i hate even the 6 months of the year i don't drive my car. 19 years is crazy.

Dan_s_young

iTrader: (1)

Looking sharp!