SEVENSTOCK was held again this year on Saturday, September 18th in the parking lot at the headquarters of Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) in Irvine, California. The festival has become known as an annual gathering for enthusiasts and owners of cars powered by Mazda rotary engines, and they come from all over the US-traveling from both northern and southern states such as Texas and Florida.

Attendees this year included not only enthusiasts from all over the US, but also fans from Holland, Norway and other European countries, as well as those from South America and even far-flung places like Japan. One owner made the drive from Seattle, Washington alone in a completely restored 1967 Cosmo Sport (110S). Gradually growing over time, SEVENSTOCK has been held every year since 1997 when the first event was initiated by Paul Mullen and a few local RE enthusiast of the Southern California RX-7 Club-a rotary fan-club. The event has been held at the MNAO facilities since the 4th festival.

This year, the 13 year-old event featured a ceremony celebrating the success of the SpeedSource team in winning the Grand-Am GT Championship. The team competed in RX-8s and its achievement brought Mazda the Manufacturers' championship. Mazda Motor Corporation's President, Mr. Yamauchi gave a celebratory letter and the team was presented with "grand wish accomplishment rice scoop"-a specialty of Miyajima, Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. A total of more than 500 cars attended, ranging from old models like 13B-powered Mazda B trucks, R100 coupes, RX-2s, RX-3s, and RX-4s, as well as newer RX-7s (the majority), and the latest RX-8s. The total number of attendees, spectators and related individuals this year apparently exceeded 6,000. MNAO's John Abel addressed the attendees, telling them, "I am deeply moved that so many rotary enthusiasts have gathered here. Nowadays, among our products only the RX-8 supports RE, but the innovative sprit lives on in all Mazda cars."

* We will publish a feature showing "SEVENSTOCK 13" in the September 27th issue.