How good was the 3rd gen in its hayday on the track?
 

Basically in stock form or slighly modified what kind of cars was the 3rd gen capable of beating?

They're still capable of beating...

Re: How good was the 3rd gen in its hayday on the track?
 

I don't think their "hayday" is over. I regularly wach them at the track. I have seen them out run Porche 911's, corvette's, supra's, ect.. They are still very competitive.

Mike

As an FD Rx7 open-track driver, I second Mike's eyewitness accounts of the FD Rx7's ass-whoop'n capabilities from the driver's seat:)

I am by all means not questioning its ablity to perform well on the track. Even to this day in age i was just wondering based on what you people see first hand.

I can't vouch for road racing or Solo I ... I don't have that kind of scratch for upkeep. But for Solo II, the FD3S was king of the hill in SS class up until the introduction of the C5 Z06. Two years ago, it was a gradual transformation ... a mix of Z06's and RX-7's at nationals (ok, and some Porsches too). Last year, all Z06's (and, count 'em, one Porsche)... dern monster-torqued LS6 engines.

It's still very competitive. I can't beat the former national champs in SS (we have many; all driving Z06's), but I can give them a run for their money on tighter courses with lots of slaloms and lower speed transitions. And, I still have a ton of room for improvement as a driver. The FD has arguably better balance and grip than the Z06. But, the Z06 has the FD stumped in low-end power ... 350 ft-lbs available at 2000 rpm. My turbos aren't even spooled at 2000 rpm.

With equally adept drivers, the FD is still a contender. The trouble is when you get to divisionals and nationals where the courses become larger and more wide open. That's where you see power overcome form.

Z06
 

I was a Red/Blue run group driver's education student at the May 9/10 Mid-Ohio Region PCA DE at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course. In our run group, the only road car that could match the racing 911 Turbos was a yellow Z06 with really wide CCW wheels and equally wide and sticky Hoosiers! From what I can tell that was all the Z06 had, save for the 5-point cam-lock harnesses! It's truly a capable machine and probably the best buy in super high performance sports cars!

My R1 was the only other road car that did "ok" running with the racing 911s (normally aspirated 993 Carreras).

Click on this link to see a pic of my red R1 gridded with the racing 911s:)

http://www.opentracking.com/emmanuel_lozano,_93_rx7.htm

Manny nice car man. A couple of friends of mine used to go to Summit Point once in a while with their FC's. They never ran the cars in Solo or SCCA or anything but they would tell me crazy stories of how quick the FD's are on the track. Most of the instructors for the courses drove them and swore by them. I have not seen any track time with my R-1 yet. Between work and school i will have to find the time to witness myself the pleasure of road racing in a 3rd gen.

2-ROTOR,

Thanks, Dude!

Once you experience the awesome track-driving capabilities of your R1, you will feel like a "GOD":)

When they first came out to Bathurst (Oz) they really kicked some butt!

Yeah the Aussie Rx7 SP beat all comers, including Porsche's venerable 993 Carrera RS Club Sport at the '95 12-hours at Eastern Creek!

More of a force in club racing, SCCA it has enjoyed moderate success. The problem was Mazda had just come off '91 Le Mans win, and factory racing efforts were waning rapidly as the market preference shifted towards SUV's. The real heyday was 1st gens in IMSA GTU competition. They absolutely dominated.

I can't remember which ones but FDs still hold a few track records for production cars..

I was too young to remember any of the details but when i was around 3 or 4 my dad took me to an amature race at Mosport and saw a pair of FD's take 1st and 2nd. The two drivers finished 1st and 3rd for the day.

I didn't even know they were rx-7's at the time but i was like "Look dad, mazda's winning" and he was like "yep, that's called an rx-7, it's the best car ever."

IMO, he was right then and still is.
That was back in 1993 mind you but even today when i goto the track i see FD's and some FC's getting podeum finishes.

I experienced the same thing. I am ticked that I was too young at the time to comprehend what I was seeing, but when I was young and went to Mosport with my dad we must have seen the IMSA GTO FC's in '91. When Halmser drove. Now there isn't a factory rotary entry to root for. Hopefully the Renesis will pick up where the 787b left off.

I pitted for Mazda on the #62 & #63 FCs in San Antonio in 89 when they won their 100th victory.....it was awsome being on the winning team back then!!!:D EFR drove on of the cars as well as Pete H. Pete actually won that race. We also had, I cant remember for sure, 2 or 3 rotary powered MX-6s running in the GTU class!! There were something like 8 Mazdas total in that race, it was awsome!!!

That brought a tear to my eye.......:sad: :(

Long live MAZDA!!!:peace:

I have this video of a race between 2 Skylines both GT-R's different years, Acura NSX 2 different years, 3 lancers all different years and a Mazda 3rd gen...
And guess who was leading the whole race? The Mazda!!! All the cars were stock, it was a comparison race and the mazda gained a couple car lengths before finishing the race too. I think there was another car but i cant remember its name.

Dead-Eye has a good family influence, that lucky bastard!

Suddenly I feel sooo old..

Best Motoring has a DVD of a '99 Type RS J-spec Rx7 wiping the floor with the competition. The closest rival was the Acura NSX, which the Rx7 finally passed near the end of the race. All the sports car were factory stock, no mods at all except for some gauges. The drivers were all Japanese hotshoe racers.

I think we might be talking about the same race! But i remember the skyline trying to keep up....