I met one of my heroes at Sevenstock 2018, and it thoroughly lived up to my expectations.
- Car: Mazda RX-792P
- Location: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA
- Photog: Peter Nelson (IG + Twitter: @16vPete)
- Camera: Canon EOS 1N, EF 50mm 1.8 AF, Kodak Portra 400
You could feel the anticipation in the air. Thousands of rotary enthusiasts came to Fontana, Calif., to enjoy a day at Sevenstock, a day-long festival that glorifies the love-it-or-kinda-hate-it rotary engine and the various glorious Mazda vehicles it’s graced.
It felt like 75 percent of this crowd had gathered in one of the garages where Mazda Motorsports was set up, prepping a few of its historic, rotary-powered racecars to run some laps around Auto Club Speedway’s high-speed track. The suspense of when they’d fire up the pictured RX-792P permeated through the air like heavy, conventional, rotary-friendly motor oil. Everyone wanted to hear its mighty R26B 4-rotor turn over and scream to life in high-decibel lumpiness.
When it did, it was a religious experience. As someone who’s spent countless hours enjoying similar sound clips on YouTube, nothing beats real life. Kind of like, well, any live performance really. The RX-792P is so loud that you feel like you can hear each and every stage of the combustion process across each of its four rotors.
You can’t, but you can count on this mighty nest of angry bees to block out all other sounds within 20 feet of it. When it’s at wide-open throttle on track, probably an eighth of a mile. If you live near Sevenstock, we highly suggest you get there to see Mazda’s rotary legends in person.
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