Rx323

[MikeLMR]

anyone got any rx323 pics (or any non rotary rwd pics) rally cars or otherwise

Why you ask ? well ...

Every time motorclub type people in my area learn that I have an rx the same rotary powered rwd 323 gets mentioned. Must of made a big impression as several different people have recounted stories of a tough rotor powered 323 that "didn\'t idle for sh1t"  "went like stink" and "lifted the front wheels off the start line"

~ Mike

[travellinbob]

hey this seems like a cool thread. I never knew that rwd 323\'s came out in the uk until the other day on the old skool racers thread when i saw the green one.
 I once bought an orange rwd 323 with a 10a in it in oz. Unfortunantly it was accident damaged when I bought it and it never lived again.
 I am pretty sure that the 323\'s have a very good rear suspension set up, something very close to the early 1st generation RX7\'s.
  Never see them for sale here though.

pics would be great.

[Archbish]

IF it\'s the same car I\'m thinking of, then it used to belong to the chap at essex racing on Canvey Island.  I saw a 323 (whatever the fiesta shaped mazda was) there with a dowelled and everything\'d engine built by Spike Winters.  It was raced in a series where you could have any body and engine combination as long as it was from the same manufacturer.

It could rev stupidly high (>14k), and had motorbike acceleration - mainly due to the fact it didn\'t have to change gear too often due to the ridiculous rev limits.

I only saw it briefly a couple of years ago, and the memories not so good these days, but it certainly made an impression... *grin*

[MikeLMR]

cool  ... this one was out rallying in the late 80\'s IIRC, I\'ve been told our club chairman has video footage so I\'m on mission to get hold of that now ... anyone now how I can get it onto the computer ?

[Richard]

Surely you cant have a post subject like this withoout mentioning probably the first RX323 in the UK -around 1976/77?



Willie Rutherfords 13B powered example, with a quoted power of 230BHP @7,000 rpm. It later became a PP if I remember correctly.

Anybody else remember it?

Rich:wave

[MikeLMR]

:rollin that was 4 years before I was born

That looks just like the sort of thing I\'m talking about :cool  awesome.

Much better than the MSA\'s  Vale of Neath 12 car this weekend

[scooby_si]

erm google is pretty poo on this subject it\'d seem dont even no wot a 323 looks like but how about (dont think many are rotary related but wot the hell):



















my fav thou is

&

 i retract my previous sentiment about google being poor it\'s actually quite good the stuff you find on there.....

There\'s loads more all i did was the following search:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=rally+323+mazda
Si

[scooby_si]

this looks a bit more rwd related at least:


ooohhh how about




Si (gets coat as this is probably just pishing off the non broadbanders........http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008\' target=\'_blank\'>http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/3/3_8_7.gif\' border=0>)

[Carl]

The one OJ is talking about is a Mazda 121 with a 13b pp engine in it.
Yes it still exist\'s.
The 323 was a rally car and very nice too,it was a 1st gen 323,in the mid seventies.
Kind regards
Carl

[MikeLMR]

ooooh the 121 sounds cool, whats it used for ? grass track ? hot rod oval racing? must be somthing with fairly relaxed rules to run a rotary.

I don\'t think I\'ve ever seen a rotary powered car being rallied in anger in the UK .... maybee one day I might be able to change that

EDIT

have always thought a 121 would go well with a 1.8 16v like I have in my 323, should be just about a bolt in job too now that\'d be a sleeper

[Carl]

Originally posted by MikeLMR
ooooh the 121 sounds cool, whats it used for ? grass track ? hot rod oval racing? must be somthing with fairly relaxed rules to run a rotary.

I don\'t think I\'ve ever seen a rotary powered car being rallied in anger in the UK .... maybee one day I might be able to change that

EDIT

have always thought a 121 would go well with a 1.8 16v like I have in my 323, should be just about a bolt in job too now that\'d be a sleeper

The 121 was built about 5 or 6 years ago for Thunder saloons which were circuit race cars.
The series did not go to well and the Mazda did have a PP 13b in it but was only ever taken to 10,000 rpm.
The car still exist\'s.
Most of the cars in the field had v8\'s or v6\'s and were considerably heavier than the 121.
There is an RX3 that was a rally car just a few years back,maybe 5 or 6.It has now been converted to circuit race car spec but could easily be reverted I would think.

Kind regards
Carl

[clive]

Just thought l would throw in some useless anorak info!!

The 323 circa 1976 was designed by Mazda so a rotary would bolt straight to the crossmember so they could keep their engine options open.

A few years ago a Mazda head office man jokingly showed off his powers of access to Mazda\'s computers by asking me how many Rotary 323\'s we had in the club, to this l replied, Mazda didn\'t build any production 323 Rotary\'s as far as l knew , to this he replied that in 1990 they produced 110 323\'s for the home market only.

That\'s enough anorak off now .

[Glenn Butcher]

My friend in Oz built an RX-323 (those were his number plates!!!) it was a mild port 13B running a 51mm webber.

It ran a 13.0 at Eastern Creek, over 10 years ago!!!

Had an RX-4 diff, RX-4 gearbox (4speed).  The crossmember used was from an RX-3 - bolted straight in.

Video here (323 is around half way through).



10.2MB

[MikeLMR]

Excelent, have been asking around in the rallying world so hopefully I can dig up some photos too My Dad reminded me as well that he used to have a rwd 323 estate when I was younger (to young to realise it was rwd)

Excellent video.

[Richard]

 ooooooohhhhhhh 323 SP:cool

Just so happens

Last of the facelift RWD\'s before they went errrr.......front....... er....... wheel... err.... drive I think they called it. It\'ll never catch on:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Rich:wave