RX2 of the week

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616 Coupé for sale in Germany. Interesting with the series IV rear and series III front.

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Been a while since last Rx2 otw, but here's one. A Japanese race version. Looks menacing!

[Casey]

Posting of pictures, "back on track"   

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Did you know that two herschel orange Rx2 coupés participated in the 1972 Rallye Monte Carlo? And both entries were from Norway - at the time spmething of a developing country when it came to motorsports.

The two entries were car no. 79 (DA44475) Per M. Eckholdt / Erik Sandberg and car no. 87 (DA25313) Gunnar Ringerike / Arne Dahl. The second pic shows the service vehicle in the background, also an Rx2 coupé (with a roof rack). None of them got to the finish, but that could be said of the vast majority of that year's entries. It was a snowy winter in '72.

Sadly, both cars were de-registered way before the digital age and seem to have been lost without trace. Rally cars led a hard life.

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My Rx2 rallying research has given a few more results. Enough for a little vid  : 

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The 1972 Rally Monte Carlo. More details on the Norwegian Rx-2 entries! (as well as the R100 entered for the 1971 rally). This time complete with names and faces. 🏁

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Introducing an R100 kitten to see what it does to my YT viewing stats. 

Vid description
Before the oil crisis, Rotaries were presented as The Cars of the Future, as these samples from Norwegian Press 1969-73 show. Mazda became our most-selling car make in 1971, giving it plenty of press. The 51 R100s that arrived, were not marketed, but acted as a rotary-engined test batch. The Rx-2 featured in many ads and tests.

Motoring journalists praised the Rx2 for its smooth, silent engine, precise gearbox and running gear. The only drawbacks noted were the light switch placed on the steering column (!) and the front seats clicking back to an uncomfortable position every time someone accessed the back seat. I subscribe to the latter.

Notably, Norwegian testers did not share their Danish colleagues' criticism of the Rx2's handling (see my previous video "The Mazda Rx2 – An Unlikely Rally Car?"). In autumn 1971, Mazda dealership Ullern Bil gave journalist Dan Hasle an original spec Rx-2 Coupé to participate in an all-BMW (!) driving course at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Hasle claimed to have maxed out at 220 kph towards the end of the Döttinger Höhe straight! (His Danish colleagues were scared off the loud pedal at 180kph on the Jyllandsring track).

Mazda's speedometers were known for their precision (showing 102 kph at 100), but Rx2 speedos are marked only to 210. This questions the accuracy of Hasle's claim. Still, I'd like to know where the rev counter pointed as he overrode the speed needle!

Denmark's honours were restored when the Danish-Norwegian team of Finn Ryhl-Andersen and Arne B. Dahl won the International Journalists' Rally in an Rx2 (see 1:21').

Pictures and articles from 1969-73 (mostly 1971) are sourced from NÅ weekly magazine ©Story House Egmont; Motorliv © KNA Forlag; Motor © NAF; used by kind permissions. Music by Kolar Goi, used with performer's permission.

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Japanese spec 72 GSII

[Casey]

Niiiiiiiiice 

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This, on the other hand, is a 1974 US-spec with portable picnic tables front and rear: 

[Casey]

Handy tables those 

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So many great looking cars ended up with these terrible things to make them comply !!

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This table is a bit lower... 

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Might have to buy myself another Rx2... 
https://www.raceland.eu/Mazda-RX-2-1972

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