Mazda Dealer Auto Frey to Host Sports Rally

An international Mazda Cosmo Sport rally, scheduled to take place in Gersthofen, Germany, from  August 10 to 15, 2009, will gather a group of Cosmo Sport owners from around the world and fans of the rotary engine. Mazda shipped 14 Cosmo Sport models from Japan to Europe, especially for this event.

The vehicles will join five additional Cosmo Sport vehicles and their owners from various European countries. The transport of the Japanese Cosmo Sport vehicles was handled by Mazda Motors Deutschland and Mazda Logistics Europe.

The rally, which is unique to Europe has been organized by the Bavarian Mazda dealer Auto Frey, which owns one of the biggest collections of Mazda heritage vehicles in the world, with many of the cars having the revolutionary rotary technology under the bonnet.

The collection features about 160 vehicles, of which about 45 with rotary engines, and is housed in buildings near Gersthofen. Therefore, those who attend the international Cosmo rally will also get the chance to visit this unique collection. The participants will have to travel in convoy in order to see it on August 12.

Also included in the schedule are a visit to the Rotary Institute and a tour of Felix Wankel’s home, along with visits to the world-famous Neuschwanstein castle. Participants will also have the chance to test-drive the major facelift version of the Mazda RX-8, the latest generation of sports car with a rotary engine.

However, Mazda Cosmo 110 S was the first production car with a two-rotor engine. It went into production in Japan in 1967 (shortly before the NSU Ro 80), with exactly 1,176 units of the sports coupe built until 1972.