Australia built one of the best RX-7s Mazda ever sold

I don't think there are many people out there who don't love an FD RX-7, even if you aren't a fan of triangle motors. While the Spirit Rs, Bathurst and all manner of Series VI-VIII special editions are highly valued today, I believe the best FD Mazda ever sold was the SP.

If you're not from Australia, you may not have known of the SP which was developed and sold solely by Mazda Australia as a homologation model. The sole purpose of the SP was to win the Bathurst 12-hour production car race. 

This wasn't the 1000km Bathurst 1000 touring car race, but a half-day multi-class race for lightly modified cars the regular punters could buy. There were Holdens, Porsches, Nissans, Peugeots, Alfa Romeos, Toyotas, BMWs, and all manner of cars doing battle on the famous Mount Panorama street circuit.

Canadian-born Aussie touring car hero Allan Moffat had run a first-generation RX-7 in Group C touring cars, and the Bathurst classic had seen RX3s racing in small-capacity classes earlier in the 70s, so rotary racers had a long history at the mountain. This time, rather than V8 Holdens and Fords, they were battling Honda NSXs, Maseratis, Lotus Esprits, and 968 RS Porsches... and winning!

Still running a twin-turbocharged, intercooled 13B twin-rotor Wankel it made 204kW compared to a regular Aussie-delivered Series VI RX-7's 176kW. There were 60 modifications over a regular AUDM RX-7, including upgraded wheels, suspension, fixed-back seats, and a wild bodykit. All up, 25 were produced to qualify for the 1995 race. 

Following the SP's win at the 1995 12-hour race over the highly-fancied factory-backed Porsche team, Mazda Australia made a further 10 SPs with slightly differenty body kits and mods (see below)

Due to their place in Australian motor racing history, and their rarity, the SP has always commanded a high price. With only 25 Series 1 cars and 10 Series 2 examples are often kept by serious rotary collectors, which is fitting for a car that beat the best performance cars from all over the world!