If you spend much time at all online reading about cars, you’ve probably run into Wankel engines (a.k.a. rotaries) and their legions of fans extolling their advantages. Not far behind, you’ll probably find the non-rotary crowd throwing around words like “black magic” and “Spinning Doritos.”
Until I was recently invited out to the 19th Annual SevenStock, the world’s largest rotary enthusiast gathering, I had no idea how much variety there was to be found in the rotary world. After SevenStock, I can now say Mazda has taken another fan into their ranks.
Under the bright Fontana sun, I walked through rows of 2-, 3- and 4-rotor powerplants in everything from small trucks to wagons to salt flat racers, all while assorted “braps” and ever present rotary whines of iconic Mazda IMSA and Le Mans machines reverberated around Auto Club Speedway. The sensory overload was a challenge to capture in photos, but hopefully they will do enough justice to express the festivities of the event and encourage you to visit for yourself next year.
