The first RX-7 was so smooth it needed a buzzer to warn of redline
A piston engine shakes and roars as it nears its limit. The rotary engine in Mazda's first RX-7 spun so smoothly that drivers could hit 7,000 rpm without noticing, so Mazda fitted a buzzer to the rev counter. Over three generations and 24 years, more than 800,000 of these cars were built.
Mazda sold the RX-7 from 1978 to 2002. It placed a compact Wankel rotary engine behind the front axle and drove the rear wheels, which evened out weight between the ends and kept the centre of gravity low. The first version, launched in Japan in March 1978 to replace the Savanna RX-3, was a two-seat hatchback coupé designed under Matasaburo Maeda. His son Ikuo later designed the RX-8, the car that eventually took its place.
Weighing under 1,100 kg with a roughly 50:50 balance, that original remains the lightest RX-7 ever made. Its 1.1-litre engine gave North American drivers 100 hp and a top speed above 190 km/h. The rotary shape brought an unusual emissions problem: a long, thin combustion chamber burns cool, producing little nitrogen oxide but leaving plenty of half-burned fuel. Mazda fixed this with a thermal reactor where the exhaust manifold would normally sit, pumping in fresh air so the leftovers kept burning.
Power crept up through the series. A September 1983 turbocharged version for Japan used a turbine redesigned for rotary exhaust and spinning twenty percent faster than a conventional unit. Sales were strong: 471,018 first-generation cars were built, and between seventy and eighty percent went to American buyers. A 1985 Australian Finale edition carried a plaque reading Last of a legend.
Because the United States had bought most of them, the second generation, led by Akio Uchiyama, was designed with Americans in mind and looked strikingly like a Porsche 944. It traded some purity for comfort, swapping the old live rear axle for independent suspension that could steer the rear wheels slightly under hard cornering. The third generation brought sequential turbocharging.
Source: Mazda RX-7
