Mazda Tuning Festa 2013 - 7s day

The Mazda Tuning Festa has become THE event for Mazda fans in Japan. The sheer variety of stuff to see, hear and probe is the real drawcard.

Mazda Tuning Festa 2012 - MAD-FACE

 The Drift Samurai... "Imamura" is currently running this D1SL spec FD3s. It's called MADFACE.

Tokyo Auto Salon 2012 - Knight Sports 8

The knight sports Widebody has got to be one of the nicer body kits around for the RX9.

Tokyo Auto Salon 2012 - Spirit R Rx8

Look into the Mazda Spirit R's eye and I'll tell you the future.

Here it is... Men in Suits. I didn't see one young guy on the Mazda stand all day. Mazda as well and truly lost it's appeal to the sports car market in Japan.

This model celebrates the end of the rotary production car in Japan, and as such, the last models of RX-8 wear the Spirit R badge.

Can the man in the suit please explain what that badge means. It previously meant a best of breed performance oriented pure sports car pumping out over 300 hp with a long heritage of giant killing status.

Somehow, the RX-8 does not fit that bill. It has always been a competent chassis but without the power needed to become any more than a grand touring car. Since 2003 it has had a pretty long run but has hardly had the giant killing success of the RX-7.

Mazda didn't even bother supporting Super GT in it's home country or Super Taikyu production series with the 8. Instead opting not to even support RE-Amemiya and ride the success of the RX-7 as long as they could. Only last year did Suenaga switch to the RX-8 in D1 (with FD engine of course).

That strategy gave this car NO credit (Daytona 3 rotor success aside) in Japan. The ten year wait for a new RX-7 that this car was never meant to replace has left Mazda without sports car fans.

Mazdapeed are also pretty quiet in Japan these days. You may see the odd NR-A Miata but the RX-8 Race class was abandoned long ago.

Even now the relevance of the 787B to a lineup without a rotary is somewhat ambiguous.Rx-8 fans are out there, and with tuning houses like Revolution and Pan Speed and R-Magic really pushing the Rx-8 as the future suddenly find there is none.

Mazda does have options for the RX-8 in Japan made by the R&D arm called M'z Custom as shown here. However these were nowhere to be seen at the biggest tuning show in Japan.


The Aluminium Metallic is a nice colour but I still find Mazda's body and bumper colours do not match correctly and have not done for a long time. The other option is Sparkling Black and Crystal White Pearl is a Premium colour at additional cost.

Anyway. Positive Positive.... This car is the 2012 Spirit R Tokyo Auto Salon Version. It rides on 20" and 255 wide BBS wheels and Bridgestone tyres. (note These are not the Spirit R wheels which are still gold but only 245/40/19.)

The modern front with the dark black headlight bezel looks good. I am a fan of the newer colour. The rear and fog lamps also are decorated in black.

Up front there's slotted rotors and brembo's 4 piston stoppers on the R and suspension is Bilstein.

Red stitching on the stock steering wheel and the six speed manual with a few things like gear knob and brake handle from the catalog splashed around. Piano black centre console and features.

AUTO is available in a lesser Spirit R Spec.

The Renesis 13b seems to have lost power with Mazda listing it as 235hp these days 216nm of torque is nothing substantial.

Note. Japan also sells the Type G auto with less power at 215hp but it still makes the same amount of torque.

Not even a special logo on the dash?

Finally, inside you get red semi-supportive decorative Recaro-badged seats on the MT model.

An un-optioned Spirit R sells at 3.25Million Yen in Japan which is still fairly cheap, but realistically be prepared to spend 4 Million.

Check out the Japanese Mazda Site for more info on the last rotary.

...

Tokyo Auto Salon 2012 - pREview

Perfection, Maturity, Madness, Dumped, Drifted, Styled and Conceived. Some of the words you might hear in the next few days and weeks from RE-Xtreme as we go in detail through the cars of TAS 2012.

These shots are just a quick look through the camera.

Some things you will want to see more of.

Some with new ideas.

Some with a new take on old topics.

Limits are explored in every direction.

From the daily street lifestyle...

To the drift crazy mad bull extremes.

There was a lot going on, new, old, tried and tested.

Somethings maybe you shouldn't test.

And boundaries pushed all the way.

Sometimes the scene is surreal.

And sometimes it's very real.

I look forward to bringing you all these and much more from Tokyo Auto Salon...

Russell Gander
RE-Xtreme.

Tokyo Motor Show - Takeri

Here is the second Kodo design project car.  The "Takeri" concept.

From the front it follows the Shinari. From the front it's still very stunning. But from the front quarter, well hmmm, I'll let you decide on this one. The transformation to a shorter wheelbase and more street legal leaves this version front heavy.  It's equally long like the Shinari, but unlike it's long body touring brother, the nose is very high. I feel this car is simply weak in proportions and ends up looking pugish. The low window line doesn't help either.

Mazda did a good job of hiding the bad angles on their website. As much as I was impressed with the Shinari, I couldn't take a bad photo, but this one I found there were only a few angles that looked great.  Check the Mazda Design  site for their good shots....

Tokyo Motor Show - Shinari

Tokyo Motor Show 2011. This is the Shinari concept with Kodo design language. Soul in Motion.

I'm not sure what to expect from shows like this anymore, especially as far as Mazda are concerned. The Shinari is amazing, but how much of it could we expect in a new RX-7. I fear the answer is NONE.

The EYE of the shinari bleeds directly into the grill section. The lower canard section houses a small line of LED.

 This car has great proportions with the tyres filling the guards while the wheels extend past the trye. It definitely incorporates the samurai and ninja katana blade styling we expect from Japan.

I'd like to think this could work with a slim line frontal section in a super low sports car, but I think global safety standards would almost kill any hope of that.

It's very RX-8-like with the front bulbous fenders and similar facial design. but it's another step in the right direction.

I stepped back and looked at the rear lights for a long time. they are really quite special.

The integration of alloy and translucent plastics is fantastic. However, we all know Mazda has no plans for a rotary sports car due to the global limitations for emissions that effectively killed the 16X and the rumours of an RX-7 replacement have seen 10 years of speculation and no result. Even the Taiki and the previous flowing design language that also produced the Furai has come and gone. I have no doubt there is an RX-7 body that has already been designed incorporating these design elements, but I feel we will never see it in any form other than a concept.

Maybe one day the RE-7 will emerge with Rotary Electric power. I felt a little deflated after the motor show as some may realize that the Rotary and its Piston powered brothers are in their final days. By 2020 what new cars will be available?

If you follow the other concepts at the show. It will be a hybrid or pure electric. Temporary Skyactiv technologies from Mazda will only serve to fill a gap until costs come down.

The realities of future transportation are blurred. The future looks interesting, but the BRAAAP of the rotary is DEAD.  Get your Spirit R RX-8 if you want the last Mazda Built Rotary. Better make sure you get a few spare engines with it though.

...