SEVENSTOCK 16, the largest event for rotary engine fans in the USA, was held on November 9 (Sat.), at the Fontana, CA Auto Club Speedway, assembling more than 450 prized rotary-engined cars, and drawing more than 4,000 fans of rotary engines from all over the country that enjoyed the track day all day long.

Formerly held in the parking lot of Mazda USA's headquarters in Irvine, CA, SEVENSTOCK soon became too big for that venue and from the year before last, it has been held in other places in California such as Pomona Drag Raceway and Willow Springs Raceway. This year it was held at the Auto Club Speedway in the Los Angeles suburbs. The SoCal RX Club that owns the speedway organized the event as the parent organization, and clubs for the owners of rotary-engined cars from around the country responded, gathering members and fans at this event.

Rotary-engined cars from all over the USA gathered at the speedway from the early morning, filling up the parking lots for each model. The distinctive exhaust sound of rotary engines reverberated in the chilly morning air. At 10 o'clock, the parking lot was filled with rotary-engined cars, which formed ranks for each model, and made the customary parade into the paddock. Everything from older models such as the Cosmo Sport, R100 Coupe, RX-2 (known as “Kaze no Capella” in Japan), the familiar RX-3, and the “Big Luce” RX-4, to comparatively less established models like the third generation RX-7 and RX-8 moved one after another into the paddock. Among them were rare specimens like a rotary truck sold exclusively in the US market, and a Datsun 510 fitted with a 13B rotary engine. The cars were all buffed to a high sheen for this special day.

On the racetrack, open sessions were held for each category of Mazda car and for racing cars equipped with Mazda engines, but what drew the biggest cheers from the rotorheads (the nickname for fans of rotary engines) was the demonstration run by the Mazda RX-792P, Mazda 787, and Mazda RX-7GTO. The sound of the three four-rotor machines running all-out on the banked curves resounded through the bowl-shaped speedway like the sound of a stirring trio. Perhaps due to the over-eagerness of driver Weldon Munsey from Mazda USA, or because of the immense downforce, the carbon fiber front spoiler of the RX-792P broke, but the fans were ecstatic about the demo run. The day came to its finale hailed as a great success.