There is no such thing as too loud for JDM enthusiasts. They like it loud and flashy, and everything in between. But at the Nurburgring, you follow the Nurburgring rules. And this Mazda RX-7 got banned for being just too loud.
It is a third-generation Mazda RX-7, and when stock, it sports a 1.3-liter twin-rotor Wankel rotary engine that delivers to the tarmac a staggering 252 horsepower (255 PS).
That engine, rebuilt and modded to sound like a space rocket at takeoff, turned out to be too loud for the Nurburgring. No one driving a car that produces over 130 decibels is allowed to hit the racetrack. That is exactly why this Mazda was banned after only two laps. It was just too noisy when going flat out.
The one who took it to the Green Hell in Germany was Misha Charoudin, a car enthusiast who was born in Russia, grew up in the Netherlands, and currently lives in Nurburg, not far from the legendary track. You can imagine that he knows by heart every turn, uphill, and descent of the 12.9-mile (20.832-kilometer) circuit.
But the RX-7 that he pushed to the limit at the Nurburgring belongs to Instagram user khn_fd, who was in the passenger’s seat this time. His car wears Volk TE 37 forged aluminum wheels wrapped in Japan-made Zeknova semi-slick tires.
The Mazda RX-7, always the tuners’ darling
Manufactured between 1978 and 2002, the Mazda RX-7 has always been one of the tuners' darling. It is a car easy to deal with: it is a rear-wheel drive, it is light, tipping the scales at about 2,700 pounds (1,224 kilograms), and pretty easy to handle. And it is powered by Mazda's famous rotary engine, mounted at the front.
It delivered 252 horsepower (255 PS) starting in 1992, when the third generation RX-7, dubbed the FD, was revealed. The power unit featured a complex sequential twin-turbocharging system, developed in partnership with Hitachi.
The owner of the car in the video below ditched the original sequential twin-turbo and got a single turbocharger conversion instead. His Mazda now comes with 400 hp, steered straight to the rear axle via a five-speed manual.
The speedometer of his RX-7 is marked only up to 111 mph (180 kph). But the car is obviously way faster than that. How do we know that? Spoiler alert: a few BMWs, Audis, and Porsches had to get out of the way.
But in 2002, when Mazda brought down the curtain on the RX-7, the sports two-seater said goodbye with 276 hp (280 PS).
The design chief was Yoichi Sato, working alongside Wy-huang Chin, the Vietnamese designer who also penned the Hiroshima-made MX-5 Miata.
Over 30 years since it debuted in 1992 and 22 years after its production came to an abrupt end, the Mazda RX-7 is still a car to take to the racetrack.
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