Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-7
Daynom Templeman’s amazing new 20B-powered Mazda RX-7 has only just been built. But be quick if you want to see it – this car has wanderlust.
There are plenty of sights and sounds out there that put a smile on our grubby little faces. Open wastegates, ice cold beers and poorly secured bikini tops all have their charms, for example. But there is one thing that stands above the rest. There really is nothing better than seeing a local driver use our own scene as a stepping stone to bigger things. A few fortunate people have made the leap in the past, and now it’s Daynom Templeman’s turn.
Although he’s an accomplished circuit driver, having been racing competitively since the age of 11, Daynom is still fairly new to drifting. The Aucklander originally blipped on our radar in early 2008 after announcing a switch of codes — circuit racing would now take a back seat to drifting. By the end of the year, Daynom’s first drift car, an FD3S Mazda RX-7, was gracing New Zealand’s drift competitions and the cover of NZPC’s Drift Factor special edition.
Still, it’s fair to say he struggled at first — and hey, the transition from getting as much grip as possible on the circuit to getting as little as possible in a drift battle isn’t small. But two years on, Daynom has become a formidable force on the scene.
That would satisfy most people, but Daynom isn’t the sort of guy to rest on his laurels — he has bigger plans and a pair of very itchy feet.
“Ever since I first started racing the goal has been to compete in the States,” he says. “I did some testing in Indy Light cars there when I was younger and it’s stuck with me ever since. I just love the way they do it over there.”
Travelling overseas to compete is a great notion, but as other drivers that have made the leap can attest, it really screws up your chances of winning a championship here in New Zealand. “If I sent my only car overseas, I wouldn’t be able to compete in the New Zealand rounds just because of the amount of time it takes to ship the vehicle,” notes Daynom.
There was only one solution: Daynom needed to build a sister car to his original RX-7, one that was even better.
Thanks to two full years of competing in the drift scene, Daynom and his team were well equipped to do just that.
“We gained heaps of knowledge building the first car, learning what works and what doesn’t, then put all that into building a new RX-7 that we could use to take all over the world.”
Daynom and his team were soon on the lookout for the appropriate Mazda, and after plenty of hunting around, they happened upon a nice, tidy street car with some interesting modifications.
“The car was running a naturally aspirated 13B but it was in pretty good condition. We were very wary after our last RX-7 — it was an ex-race car out of Japan and it had had a really hard life before we even started drifting it, which didn’t help.”
The atmo 13B clearly wasn’t going to cut it on the world stage — even the big-power 13B turbo motor in Daynom’s original car was deemed insufficient. For this job, the team needed to find the big dog of Mazda motors: the triple rotor 20B.
Pulled from between the struts of a Cosmo, Daynom’s new 20B was sent straight to Andrew Fabin of Rotaspeed. “Andrew is a bit of a mad scientist but he does awesome work with rotary motors,” Daynom says of the highly regarded Fabin.
Andrew stripped the engine and completely rebuilt it to run huge amounts of power. After being dowelled for strength, the housings were given a custom port job that sits somewhere in between a bridgeport and a stage 2.
“After running a few different motors in the original RX7, we found that bridgeporting is good for all-out power and drag racing, but not so good for lower end torque,” Daynom explains. “We worked out a pretty good compromise — it gives a good power delivery all the way through [the revs].”
After bolting on a dry sump system and a gear-driven oil pump, the motor was slotted back into the car and mated to a massive Masterpower T45 turbo, which is more than capable of running the enormous power Daynom was after.
Once a fuel system was sorted, a custom manifold/exhaust system fabricated and a pricey but very tough Holinger 6-speed sequential gearbox bolted up behind the motor, the car was ready for body work.
“I didn’t want the car to look like other RX-7 drifters,” Daynom says. “It needed something different.” It certainly got it, after Daynom hunted down a unique GT300 replica widebody kit that looks more grip than drift. Based on the Japanese GT300 series cars, the kit pumps the car out 100mm wider on each side, allowing for nice wide wheels and an aggressive offset. For now, Daynom is running a set of 18-inch Work Euroline rims, measuring 12 inches wide at the back and 10 inches at the front.
In terms of handling, the RX-7 has been simple to set up, thanks to Mazda building a lot of adjustability into the car from the factory. The only aftermarket gear underneath the car is a set of Tein Super Drift coil-overs, complete with in-cabin EDFC controller.
Soon enough, the car was set up and ready to roll. It was taken down to Hitech Motorsport in Drury and bolted to an unsuspecting dyno.
Using a Link G4 computer, the team began to tune to the car — and the power figures started to rise. After a full day on the rollers, Daynom was a very happy man: the Mazda had just belted out a massive 596kW (800hp) at the rear wheels.
“I gave it a quick drive up and down the road for a test — it’s stupid fast,” he says.
Now that the car is sitting low, wide and angry, is it finally time for it to be packed up into a container and shipped overseas? Apparently not.
“I swear this car hates me,” Daynom admits. “So far, anything that can go wrong has. It’s been one little problem after another, so I don’t really want to send it overseas just yet. I’ll do extensive testing in New Zealand first while my original car is sent overseas to compete. Then once all the little bugs have been ironed out, I’ll swap over to the new car and keep the original in New Zealand instead.”
Although Daynom has his sights firmly set on the USA, he will stay a little closer to home at first. “I need to compete in Asia, so I’ll be going there initially. It’s the best way to break into the States.”
If there’s anyone with the experience, the knowledge and the talent to succeed, it’s this man. All he ever needed was the right car. And now, thanks to months of hard work, an awesome set of sponsors and plenty of late nights, he finally has it.
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