MAZDA RX3 GT LEGENDS LICENSE
Toyo Kogyo first began investing money and effort into the rotary Wankel engine when they took out a license to develop and manufacture the technology in November 1961, and put their first Wankel engine powered car, the Mazda Cosmo, into limited production in 1967, almost exactly ten years after Felix Wankel had created his first running prototype engine. Japanese car maker Toyo Kogyo “Mazda” went from being a builder of three-wheeler commercial vehicles and passenger cars during the 1950’s to being the world’s only major manufacturer of Wankel powered automobiles by the 1970’s. This gives you a glimpse into what helped make the RX-3 into an automotive legend. As you will see the older RX-3 is just a tad quicker. In the video below we have a driver’s eye view of the Bathurst racing circuit from the cockpit of an RX-3 on the left and the later RX-8 on the right. The Wankel engine certainly proved to be a suitable little power plant for propelling competition cars and once the humble RX-3’s suspension had been lowered and sorted, commonly with the use of a Watts Linkage setup to stabilize the leaf spring live axle, and the RX-3 was race ready, and it did not disappoint. The RX-3 did not disappoint and proved to be wonderfully tweakable to bring out its best. Undeterred by the car’s relative lack of sophistication it was the Wankel engine that captured enthusiasts imaginations, and the RX-3 was a car seized upon by many of those wanting a sports car, whether for the track or for a more fulfilling driving experience on the roads. This had the effect of making the little RX-3 an exotic road rocket despite its semi-elliptic leaf spring live axle rear suspension. Fledgling Japanese car maker Mazda built a pretty typical for the period small passenger car and dropped a twin rotor Wankel engine into it. The Mazda RX-3 “Savanna” was a paradox of a car.
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