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123 people, 87 cars, and two rotary lawnmowers. Drag Racing,
Auto Crossing, and Dyno Tuning. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gens. This was what
was to be found at the first RX7 Revolution, held last weekend at the
Indianapolis Raceway Park. The weather was great, as the event was
billed as the first chance rotaries, stored over the cold of winter,
could get out and open up. Rotaries converged on Indianapolis, IN for
what was the first of many Rotary Events to take place this year.
Rotary owners started arriving in Indianapolis Friday, the
25th of April to a pair of hotels. The hotels' parking lots were soon
transformed into a mini car-show in its own right. Additionally, people
that had only met over the internet now could put a face to the name,
email address, and car. There was testosterone flowing, but raw-power
displays were kept to a minimum. Many owners talked and drank well
into the night, comparing stories, mods, and tuning secrets.
Saturday was the big day at the track. Indianapolis Raceway
Park, home to Indy's NHRA drags, was the setting for this day's events.
RX-7's started showing up early, as vendors were setting up. Vendors
including: Mazda and Mazdaspeed, Aim Tuning, RX7Trix.com, Gotham Racing,
A-Spec Tuning, Atkins Rotary, and Dixie Chopper. The raceway could
hold the two racing events simataneously, a 1/4 mile drag race, and an
autocross. The organizers also brought in a mobile dyno trailer, and at
$35 for 3 pulls, it was by far the best deal of the day.
The vendors had performance parts for sale, and some unique
displays. One of the highlights of the day was the wheelies done by the
Single Rotor Lawn Mower. The Dixie Chopper company brought out two
riding lawnmowers, both powered by Atkins' single rotor engines. Unique
in its own right, these lawnmowers are run on clean burning propane,
and produce over 40 HP with the single rotor. Atkins had their booth
setup with performance goodies, engine enhancements, rebuild videos,
and best of all the superchargers. The RX7Trix and Rotorsports Racing
boys from South Carolina brought two pickup beds full of performance
goodies, and had an impressive booth filled with go-fast-goodies.
Gotham Racing brought their SportCompact Tuner Challenge car, that
would be competing in SCC's competition later this year. A-Spec showed
off their tricked out cars, but these guys were here to race and tune.
The RX-7 Battle at the drags culminated in the day's 8 fastest
cars in a head to head shoot-out. Everything was zoom-zooming along
until the very last match. The current leader launched hard, and threw
in to second when his differential blew, literally. The crowd knew
something went awry when he pulled to the side of the track and put his
4-ways on. The car was the fastest of the day, and the highest powered
on the dyno (with 370+ rear wheel horsepower) but just goes to show,
anything can happen in racing.

The Autocross that was setup tested the full capabilities of
the RX-7's suspension and rotary engine's rev-range. It was the first
time that some RX-7 owners ever autocrossed, some told me they were now
bit by the auto-x bug, and would be joining SCCA as soon as they could.
For others, it was a chance to practice their skills in a
non-competition event. And for others, it was a chance to stretch the
legs of their RX-7's that have been couped up for the winter in storage.
Some of the vendors gave "shade tree seminars." Dave Atkins
drove into his seminar on the single rotor lawn mower. The talks
covered many subject relating to the Rotary Engine and sports car
performance and tuning.
The as daytime events were wrapping up, awards were given out
to the drag winners. Attention then turned to getting over to Hooters.
The caravan of RX-7s rolled through the main gate of the Raceway, and
back to the hotel for some freshening up. From there, the caravan
formed and it was off to downtown Indy. The event organizers setup
special parking for the RX-7's, with a police escort an security to
keep watch on all the 7's as everyone chowed down at Hooters.
During the chicken wings and beer fest that was Hooters, one
of the St Louis caravan members connected his camcorder to a TV. What
followed was footage of some Dynos, and the trip to Indy. The highlight
of the night was (very illegal, kids don't try this at home) footage
showing the speedo of a 3rd gen, reading 110 or so. The camera pans up
to show a silver FD pass them like they were standing still. The tape
was replayed three to four times just to make sure everyone saw it.
The following day, the group set out for the real Indianapolis
Speedway, and a tour of the famous Museum in the center of the Indy 500
track. After that the event participants headed home, with smiles on
their face, happy that the event went off smoothly, they made new
friends, and dreaming of future events this, and next year. Some in the
crowd started to make plans to go to href="http://rotarynews.com/display.php?c=Event&id=24">Midwest Rotor
Rally, RRCE/MADS,
and, of course, SevenStock 6.

Many more photos can be found at href="http://images.rotarynews.com/images/events/2003_04/"> the images
Server

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Indianapolis Raceway Park


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A good showing of rotaries


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3rd gens Pulling into the event.


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Hotel Parking lot, overrun with rotaries


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Wheelies in a Lawn Mower?!


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1/4 Drags, all the drags you could do all day


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A FD3s flogging on the Autocross


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Mazdaspeed and a StarMazda racecar


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Power testing on the Dyno


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RX-7s Invade Indy


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Hooters was a blur!