One of Mazda's Greatest Race Cars Is Up For Sale

Khodrocar - In the 1980s and 1990s, Mazda built a handful of incredible rotary-powered sports racing cars to promote its rotary-powered production cars. One of the most successful was the RX-7 GTU, a tube-frame monster bearing a passing resemblance to the factory RX-7. This very machine won the GTU class at the Daytona 24 Hours five times in a row from 1985 to 1990, and now it's for sale on Bring a Trailer.

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Built and raced by Amos Johnson, this car was campaigned by Team Highball and made its debut at Daytona in 1985 with fiberglass bodywork reminiscent of the first-generation RX-7. In 1987, it was updated with second-generation RX-7 bodywork, which it wears to this day. So for the Mazda geeks out there, this is technically both an FB and an FC RX-7. Or neither, since it only shares its roof structure with any road-going Mazda sports cars.

In addition to its success at Daytona, this car has class wins at almost all of America's great tracks—Sebring, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Mid Ohio and more. I can't stress enough that this car is an incredible piece of history, both for Mazda and US sports car racing in general.

Johnson helped refurbish this RX-7 last year, and its engine was rebuilt by original builder Mandeville Auto Tech. It's a 1.3-liter twin-rotor that makes around 345 horsepower, and like all Mazda rotary race engines, it sounds incredible.

The car is sold with lots of spares, a fresh set of Hooiser slicks, and some of the trophies from its wins at Daytona and Sebring. It looks like it's ready to head straight to the race track to howl at every other car in a five-mile radius. Please buy it, and do exactly that.

Source: roundandtrack.com