Extreme Mazda RX-7 Turbo Spits Flames, Scared Cameraman Drops His Gear

At least this is what happened to the camera guy who captured the footage below, who forgot about the anti-lag system fitted to the Mazda RX-7 he was filming. Thus, the exhaust's fiery behavior took the man by surprise, causing a pretty amusing reaction on his side.

Then again, this is not your standard RX-7. We are talking about a three-rotor build here, one that involves some serious turbo boost. Of course, when you drive a car like this, the massive turbine that lies in the engine compartment can give you turbo lag headaches.

In order to achieve this, the owner has installed an anti-lag system to ensure there's full boost at take-off.

Anti-lag Pros and Cons

Nevertheless, the three-rotor setup ensures this RX-7 delivers power in the 500 hp plus range. As it turns out, this isn't enough for the owner, who is planning a four-rotor scheme. In fact, he had even ordered the hardware, but a shipping issue has prevented him from making this Mazda even more of a JDM brute.

The two-step feature plays with the ignition timing a little bit. The spark that ignites the air-fuel mixture is delayed, which sends unburned fuel into the exhaust system. Subsequently, the mix ignites with the expansion spooling the turbocharger to the desired level of boost.

Just in case you're wondering why your turbocharged car doesn't have one of these, you should know the system is not exactly legal in certain parts of the world. And it's not just the noise and the fiery behavior that may bring issues.

The explosive treatment seen here will obviously shorten the life expectancy of your turbo setup, not exactly an affordable part of the car.

Nonetheless, we have to thank the rallying world for bringing anti-lag systems under the spotlights and so does the tuning scene.