One of my favorite cars that I was able to see at Sema this year was the 1990 Mazda RX-7 IMSA GTO which was sitting in the Mazdaspeed booth. Unless you knew the history behind this car you would walk past thinking it was just another track made FC RX-7 with a modified 13B engine underneath the hood.
When in fact under the hood rests a 4-rotor 26B rotary engine that puts out 600+horsepower and 390 lbs torque out of a 160 cubic inch engine with a weight to power ratio of less than 2kg/PS. Unfortunately I could not sneak a peak at the engine, so I apologize for no pictures of it.
During the 1990 season the car claimed the RX-7’s 100th win in the IMSA competition at San Antonio after they started in 1979. The 1990 RX-7 GTO was retired at the end of the 1991 season when plans for the 1992 season were announced to compete in the IMSA top GTP class.
This is one piece of racing history I am glad and proud to say I have seen in person.