Rotary Nirvana. RX-7 Heaven. The Best Yet. SevenStock X was the place to be last weekend if you even remotely consider yourself a Rotorhead. The event started 10 years ago as a little BBQ, the first large get together of the SoCal RX-7 club. Since 1997, many things have changed. The club exploded in membership, changed their name to SoCal RX Club, and they turned the yearly little BBQ to the largest Rotary Event in the WORLD! Not only was this a special anniversary of the event, but it is also a special anniversary of the Rotary Engine at Mazda. In 1967, the rotary powered Mazda Cosmo 110s was introduced to the world. 40 years later, the rotary revolution is going strong, and SevenStock marked the dual anniversary in a spectacular way, with the theme centered on rotary heritage.
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The weekend started out on Friday night with a meet and greet at K1 Speed Indoor Race Track. Guests from around the globe raced locals and special Mazda guests in an event to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). One of the highlights of the evening was "Koby" Kobayakawa winning his heat hands-down.
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But unknown to most, a special invite only event went on across town. Earlier this year, one of the five Mazda Cosmos in North America was horribly damaged in transit for an event in Mexico. The Cosmo was "fixed" before it returned to the US, but more damage was done by the mechanics than was fixed. Once Mazda saw the car back in the US, they knew some special attention was needed. After some connections were made in Japan, the help of the Mazda Cosmo Sports Club was enlisted, as well as Glen Roberts from Arizona, an old school rotary restoration expert. Thus the SOS International Cosmo Sport Rescue Team was born. A list was made of all the parts needed, and every single part was DONATED by the good folks in the Cosmo club from Japan. Glen received all the parts, and was able to get the car together fast enough for it to be driven 540 miles from Irvine to the Monterey Historic Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in mid August.
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The Friday night special invite only event was to thank the members of the Cosmo Club and Glen with a super exclusive pre-event at Mazda R&D. A presentation was done, showing photos of the car before and after the restoration. Award trophies were given to the entire SOS Cosmo Sport Rescue Team. Then with special guest Hiroshi Yamamoto, he gave an in-depth speech on the early motor sports development at Mazda. The evening concluded with a 40th anniversary "Rotary Cake"
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Dawn the next day... cars begun showing up at the staging area before sun-up. Saturday was the big event: the SevenStock car show. Rain threatened to ruin the event, but it did not dampen any of the enthusiasm the Rotorheads had for their cars. The logistics of this year was much improved, the staging area was cleared out 40 minutes after the gates to the car show opened at 9am. The weather cleared up around 10am, just in time for the big entrance parade. Not only were the old-school Cosmo 110s to be featured at SevenStock X, but the very-very new school Mazda Kabura concept made an appearance. The crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed at the concept, the Cosmos, and the race cars in the parade.
SevenStock spokesman Berny Herrera introduced Mazda President Jim O'Sullivan, who welcomed the large crowd to the event. He went on to introduce the special guests in attendance. The climax of the event kickoff presentation was the introduction of Franz von Holzhausen, the lead designer of the Kabura. What happened next was an exchange between the crowd and Franz about the fate of the Kabura… Would it be built? Would it have a rotary? Franz pointed over to Jim O’Sullivan and said "talk to him!" The crowd yelled out "BUILD IT!" "Make it a Rotary!" "3 Rotor Twin Turbo!" Clearly the crowd outburst made an impression.
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The other highlights of the daytime activities included two Tech Session, "Rx8 3-Rotor GT Racing Review" by Sylvain Tremblay from SpeedSource Race & Engineering, and "Looking at the RX8/Renesis from Down Under" by Mark "Hymee" Pickering from Performance Design, Australia. The carshow was in full swing too. After the morning showers, enthusiasts dried off their cars and proudly displayed their rides. The vendor area was packed with many tuned rides, individual after market parts, Rotary and Mazda gear for sale. The daytime events concluded with the world famous raffle, where parts, kits, and supplies were raffled off to the dutiful crowd.
Evening activites started with the SevenStock X Reception and Happy Hour at the DoubleTree Hotel. This popular event was a place where many people who correspond online-only got a chance to meet face to face for the first time. Name tags were handed out, people wrote their real names, and internet handles down. The evening concluded with the banquet. There were multiple presentations, started by the "RX-7 List's" very own David Lane (for President!!). For those long time email-list readers out there, David is just as eloquent speaking as he is with the written word. Then a surprise auction was held for the JDRF. Mike Garcia from Mazda brought in a 792p Carbon Fiber winglet, and two Mazdaspeed-Laguna Seca, 40th Anniversary hoods. The grand total over the last few years raised by SevenStock for the JDRF climbed over the $40,000 mark!
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The next presenter was Vice President of Research and Development, Shiro Yoshioka. He spoke about the history of the Mazda Rotary, and the future: "Sustainable zoom zoom… The Hydrogen Rotary Engine is for the future, so the RE is for ever!" Koby-san then introduced the SOS International Cosmo Sport Rescue Team, with 15 Cosmo Sports Car Club members in attendance at the event. Hiroshi Yamamoto then took the stage, and talked about his experiences with Motorsports at Mazda from 1963 through 1973. The then talked about being the testing manager, and finally the manager for the Eunos 3 Rotor Cosmo program. The night concluded with Sylvain Tremblay from SpeedSource, and a video of the season highlights. He went on to thank the crowd for their support this year; he said the support from the Mazda Rotary enthusiasts made all the difference in the difficult times in the season.
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So, what was the best part of SevenStock? It differs from person to person. Charlie Martin’s favorite thing about the event is the fact that the cars change from year to year. This year the "race cars, and more old school and 1st gens in years past" were present.
For Portland Oregon resident, and owner of rotaryengineillustrated.com, Blake Qualley it is "establishing the real relationship with people you have read about, emailed with or had phone conversations with." Having dinner with the movers and shakers of the rotary community like Rick Engman and Carlos Lopez were the highlights for Blake.
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And finally for RX8Forum member Zoom44, Charlie also from Portland said "seeing the Kabura in person and talking to Franz about it" was his favorite part of SevenStock X. The Kabura was the big draw for many people. Judging by the crowds reaction, the bean counters at Mazda should seriously think twice about not pushing the program through (with a Rotary Engine!).
At one point a few years ago, the future of SevenStock was unsure. But with continuing the success of the event, and the large following, plans for the next SevenStock are already being kicked around. Stay tuned to RotaryNews.com and SevenStock.org for news on SevenStock 11 in 2008!
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