Another summer means another week of Pebble Beach Concours, and all of the related activities of the festival at Monterey Bay Peninsula of Central Coast of California.
The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, better known as Monterey Historics Race, has had yet another first ever entry for a Japanese model.
Team Dainichi-Tamaru brought two examples of mint-restored 1970 Mazda R100 Rotary Coupe, known in Japan as the Familia Rotary Coupe, all the way from Japan.   This mind you, is also the first time these R100 had eligibility in this event, just like in 2014, when Team Tamaru brought over the Toyota Sports 800.
The little 1650 lbs race-prepared cars have had long history in the 1970's as the touring car to beat among Japanese cars in the international stage.
From Nurburgring to Spa, to LeMans, these Rotary Coupes were biting at the heels of then-successful Porsche 911, and besting the best from Alfa Romeo Giulia and BMW-Alpina 2002Tii.

The pair of 1970 Rotary Coupes present today were restored meticulously to the white/blue, white-red two tone liveries from the SPA Francorchamps 1969 24 Hour Grand Prix. The red #31A owned and driven by a famous car collector Dr.Kato of Japan, joined the principal team owner, a entrepreneur-car-expert Mr.Tamaru, who brought his own #32A blue car, with crew volunteered from the deepest legendary racing machine experts of Japan. Team members like the father of Prince Skyline, Mr.Higashikawa, Ai Koizumi and her crew, who usually procures top GT500, Super Taikyu, and AE86 N2 machines, and the notorious race-car magician that is Mr.Goto who works magic. US Side Operation of final building/ testing and documentations for Rolex event were performed by none other than Koji Haraguchi of Hiro's Auto in Costa Mesa, and former chief of RSR USA, Yataro "John" Masuda, along with assistance from talents like Takahisa "Flying Taka" Aono of AE86 fame.
Also important to mention that the #31A was kept in original state from 1969, while the #32A was retuned by famous RE Amemiya for a more reliable racing result.
This was purposefully done so that #31A was present for the historical accuracy of vintage example to show the fans up-close, and #32A was slightly honed with Amemiya hands and peripheral porting, and stronger coil-packs, and other hand-crafted ways to make it a bit more interesting in the event for exciting racing to the finish.
Driving the red #31A was Dr.Kato himself, and for the blue #32A, a retired professional driver from Mazda's own design team, Mr. Maeda was enlisted to give it a true spirited battle with the Alfa Giulia and Porsche 911S in the Historics.

Rather than boring you with any more words however, here are some pictures to depict that thrill that was there for 3 days with all the lucky Rotary Engine fans who witnessed the magic happen this August 2016.

-- Moto Miwa

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The post 2016 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion - Mazda R100 Rotary Coupe - Team Tamaru Sets another first for the event. appeared first on Club4AG.

Toyota FT-1 Version 2, Unveiled at Gordon McCall's Motorworks Reunion 2014, Pebble Beach, CA...

Designed by CALTY, the second iteration of the concept Toyota FT-1 was released to the public eye, for the first time.
The design has not changed too much from the first rendition, but the new car features an updated interior trim with a very rare leather saddle color and material, as well as a new bronze-pearl exterior paint.

The new Toyota FT-1 Version 2, Unveiled at Gordon McCall's is also the first to make a public appearance with a team of designers who now publicly speak with the public to gain interests and exchange opinions rather more casually, from CALTY in Southern California as well as TOYOTA USA, which might be a evidence that the car is much closer to becoming a reality.  Chief designers from CALTY, Alex Shen, and William Chergosky were present as well as CALTY's President Kevin Hunter, answering many questions for several hours at 4 venues this week, from San Francisco Regional Corporate Center to McCall's kick-off charity event of the Monterey Historics, as well as grounds of Pebble Beach Concourse...

Packed with HUD (Heads-Up Display system in the upper dash instruments, as well as myriads of on-board information LCD just below and in front of the wheel, along with futuristic designs, it is reminiscent of a theme from a Supra A60, from the 1980's.   The A60 also featured a very early departure from tradition on the exterior styling as well as interior features of the traditional cars in the 1980's with digital cluster, powered 16 way adjustable seats, DOHC production inline 6, and touch panel radios and AC systems that awed the tech-savvy crowd back in the days.
The FT-1 Concept seems to be headed in just that direction but with very traditional front mounted engine, and rear drive system classic and familiar to any sports car enthusiast despite the seemingly updated visual controls and features, which also follows the tradition of a Toyota Celica/Supra lineage it seems to follow.
Electronically actuated door latch, and rear wing that retracts into a dedicated recess in the trunk lid is a distinct feature of the concept...
The exterior dimensions seems visually very bold and large, and without doubt, hinting at the very focused purpose of being a Grand Tourer with very high levels of sophistication, balance, aerodynamics, and at the same time, appealing to the emotions of sight and (maybe later when the engine is complete, sounds).

For now I'll  leave you with photos of the event at Monterey, California, and let you conjure your own thoughts.

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Dainichi Racing Team and Mr.Tamaru an avid owner of a precious Toyota Sports 800, decided on a bucket list item, to take his own car to Laguna Seca Monterey Historics Motorsports Reunion 2014 Race a couple years ago. His daily driven "Yotahachi" of 19 years ownership went through a 10 million JPY ($100,000) restoration and alteration project.
The Sports 800, with newly prepared chassis, and suspension, a complete ground up restoration by Racing Service Goto, RSR Japan, and blueprinted all-original engine build by Ken Matsuura of GT500 fame. All came together in a hurry, and arrived at Los Angeles to go through final preparation at RSR USA to attend the monumental race of a billion buck paddock at Laguna Seca, during the prestigious Monterey Historic Automobile Festivities week.

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