Event report - New engine and new PB at hillclimb

A little late on the update, but at the last SDMA Hillclimb on the 20th of Feb my S1 RX7 debuted its new 13B Bridgeport built by Reliance. It was a last minute thrash but the car was ready (and quietened down with a revised exhaust) to race on the day (actually it was ready days before the race). My previous pb was a 50.76 set earlier last year. On my second run of the day I lowered my PB to a 50.52 so I was pretty happy. On the third run of the day it felt pretty good. I knew when long time rival Teppo walked over and shook my hand something special had happened - and when I found out I had finally cracked a 49 I was stoked, especially when I found out I had dropped my pb to a 49.75. All down to the engine.

Thanks to Mark Neal for the photo.

So a great result for Team Aardvark - never a bad thing when you beat a Porsche and a Lotus. Jon definitely builds a great engine - and the sound of a bridgeport never gets old.

Updates on the 7

I kinda broke it at the last hillclimb (still haven't beat my PB) - now locks in 3rd gear. Gearbag very tired, so a new "special" closer ratio gearset being borrowed and fitted before next event on the 8th of August. And my 4.3 LSD (as opposed to the currently fitted borrowed 4.3 LSD) is being tightened up to be more race friendly.

Next event is a 2 lapper so that should be much fun - and somebody with a clue about cars and driving is going to have a drive of it as well so looking forward to the feedback and time comparisons.

Old style Supra rims on a First Gen

I'm kinda liking the look!

...and more "Speaking of Reliance"...

I now have a harness installed and a button clutch installed courtesy of Reliance. All second hand bits (thanks to Buzz for harness and Jon for clutch) but very much in keeping with the nature of the car/build. The RX7 is looking and feeling more like a race car all the time. I'll try to take some photos on the weekend - hillclimb on Sunday as long as it doesn't pour with rain (which is forecast)...

Speaking of Reliance Rotary...

...a couple of mentions of Reliance Rotary and a Reliance built car (Steve Crowe is the man responsible for getting me addicted to hillclimbing) on the Mazda Motorsport website.

Amazing what you find when you do a bit of trawling.

I'll finish off with a picture of another Reliance prepared car - Barry Faux's Series 1 RX7, one of my favorites.

New Reliance Rotary website launched

I've been working on this project for a little while. Last year my wife started navigating for Jon Waterhouse in local rallies. Jon owns & runs the local (Canberra, Australia) rotary and motorsport specialist workshop Reliance Automotive Services (also known as Reliance Rotary). Had nothing to do with the fact I'd just started racing an RX7 but I certainly didn't complain.

Anyway Jon has done a fair bit of work on my car and in return I decided to take on revamping his website - a bit of a hard task in that Jon is a workaholic and would rather get you racing than sit down to plan out a website. I've managed to get a quick placeholder page up and I'm in the process of fleshing it out into a full site.

The revamped website is at http://www.reliancerotary.com.au/. Watch this space as I'm well into Phase 2.

I so want some old skool JDM rims

Would love a set of Hayashi streets for the RX7 - teamed with Datsun ZG flares. Loving this 240Z (S30):



But this is still my favorite Z - dunno why, but just love the rat look.



Only rims I have for the RX7 at the moment are all more modern in style (availability & price) - have some 14x6 Triumph Stag mags that fit so may clean them up and paint them matt black. But I'm keeping an eye out for old skool JDM goodness, even in pairs.