Which country do you think of when you talk about Mazda? It’s got to be Japan hasn’t it – and when we got invited to join in on the Mazda Classic Challenge, we envisioned driving through the streets of Tokyo, or winding our way on a road trip towards Hiroshima.
But no. This first-ever challenge would be taking place in Bavaria, Germany. In truth, this is the perfect location to see what a lightweight classic Mazda is like to drive – and the car in question is somewhat of an icon.
You see, we’d be piloting a 1984 Mazda RX-7. It was designed to take on the likes of Porsche at the sports car game, and packed a 1.3-litre rotary engine with just shy of 115bhp. This gave it a 0-60mph time of 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 115mph – both of which don’t sound all that impressive today, but were certainly brisk enough back in the early 80s.
We’d be getting behind the wheel of this icon for a 120-mile circular route, alongside German die-hard Mazda fans in their own vehicles. The journey would use the city of Augsburg as its start and finish point.
We start off the event in a little convoy of three – us and two other UK journalists – with our RX-7 being backed up by an RX-3 and a beautiful Cosmo. The trio chatter away noisily across the start line – the RX-3 making a touch more noise than the other two thanks to a straight-through exhaust. Needless to say, it’s a high-octane start to the journey.
Exiting the city is a leisurely affair, as we get used to the car’s brakes and throttle, along with its steering – which is, unsurprisingly, far heavier than anything you get in a modern car. The amount of feedback you get is fantastic, and we even – after spending around 25 minutes pressing each and every button inside the cabin – manage to work out the powered aerial, granting us access to some excellent Bavarian local radio.
Heading into the countryside, we realise how brilliantly sized the RX-7 feels on today’s roads. You forget how compact this age of car is; it feels perfectly suited to the small country lanes we’re travelling down.
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The rotary engine is also brilliantly flexible and loves to rev, while the five-speed gearbox shifts smoothly enough, and is coupled with a reasonably light clutch. It means that forward progress is made easy.
We head towards the Mickhausen hill climb – a public section of road which almost feels built for cars like the RX-7. You can drive the Mazda quite delicately in fact, but it feels poised and agile at all times. Conquering the hill climb is a bit of a giggle, and a welcome change to the sweeping bends of the country roads behind us.
We reach the top of our loop, and start heading back to Augsburg – and the finish line. By now, thanks to our need to take additional pictures coupled with a genuine interest in some local buildings, we’re behind the vast bulk of the cars in the rally, with only the odd slow-moving car in our way.
Before long we’re on the outskirts of the city, and we thanked our lucky stars that none of the three cars have had any mechanical maladies. We may have been a little hasty with that thought, however.
Approaching a junction, the car suddenly cuts out. In fact, it conks out with such little drama that we don’t actually notice that the engine has shut off until we spot the warning lights on the dashboard. Turning the key, it takes a little bit of time to get going again – but eventually coughs into life.
We think that’s the end of it. But then it happens again, and then again once more. It’s little worrying, but with some handbrake use and by keeping the revs high, we manage to get through most of the traffic without stopping. Thankfully, it manages to sort the problem out on its own, but it seemed funny that the newest car of the three was the only one develop a problem.
We roll over the finish line relieved, and glad that the car had fixed its own mechanical issue. It had been one intensive day of driving, and one which reminded us that sometimes the classic way is the best way – even if that means occasionally driving without an engine.
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