After all the stunning coverage we have seen over the last week from Bonneville, I got the itch to post something from Japan that is also related to speed. Enter the Zimax RX-7, a true modern day wangan racer!

I first spotted this FD3S at the 2007 “7-7-7″ meeting at Daikoku as it rolled in late at night. Among a sea of tuned RX-7s it wasn’t the looks that grabbed my attention at first…

…but the sound of the engine. The uneven idle, the clunky gearbox all hinted that this FD was one serious machine.

The owner had the car built by renowned rotary tuner Zimax, who was instructed to create a well-rounded car with plenty of power at the top end but with good mid-range response.

Since the car was to be used primarily on the wangan the owner requested an exterior tuned to develop tons of downforce when traveling two to three times over the speed limit. The tall RE Amemiya GT2 carbon rear wing was added precisely for this reason.

To keep the front end planted the RE Amemiya N1 bumper was fitted with Zimax carbon canards. The rest of the body wears a full RE Amemiya AD GT kit, which includes the front wider fenders, sides skirts and rear overfenders. The flip-up lights were replaced with more modern looking Amemiya fixed items featuring HID IPF projectors.

Lifting the lightweight RE Amemiya carbon hood reveals the Zimax side-ported 13B.

The Trust TD06SH-25G single turbo is good enough for 450PS in this set up, offering a very usable mid-range. The Zimax V-mounted intercooler and radiator take advantage of the space available in the FD’s engine bay and efficiently use the air coming in through the bumper.

The air that has passed through the radiator, which sits flat, and intercooler is then expelled through the openings in the areo hood. To get the most out of the engine a Trust 6-speed straight-cut racing gearbox was fitted along with an Exedy twin plate clutch. Juggling all that power between the rear wheels is the Cusco 2-way LSD.

The fueling system has been upgraded with a pair in-tank Nismo pumps and 850 cc/min injectors. You can see the Zimax collector tank in the stripped trunk area.

Looks pretty mean from this angle wouldn’t you say? You can see the “vortex generators” on each side of the rear carbon diffuser, helping stabilize the car at high speed.

Against the metallic blue body these black 18-inch Volk Racing CE28Ns (9.5J front, 10.5J rear) look just right. They are wrapped in sticky Advan A048 semi-slick tires, 265/35/18 at all four corners. Seeing the FD3S is a pretty light car the owner didn’t want to go crazy in the braking department so fitted 4-pot Brembo F50 calipers at the front with 2-piece RDD slotted discs. Keeping the rear-end balanced under braking are calipers form the limited edition RX-7 RS.

Overall performance is essential when building a car like this, so the handling received some special attention. Joining the Zimax PCR adjustable dampers is a MazdaSpeed hard bush kit as well as additional metal bushes for the suspension links.

The interior is very typical of a wangan car, with a good mix of racing goodies along with tons of gadgets. The Bride Zeta 3 carbon-Kevlar bucket seats are the first thing you notice when you open the door…

…as are the GReddy gauges neatly arranged on the center console and passenger side custom cluster.

The Momo Corse steering wheel.

The owner likes to take this car on track too, but the wangan is where it spends most of its time.

The KSD carbon light protector slash spoiler is joined by custom LED lights who’s pattern can be customized at will thanks to a little electronic box inside the rear hatch! Hope you liked taking a closer look at a real wangan racer, there will plenty more to come so keep an eye out for what I will post up next!

-Dino Dalle Carbonare