Editorial : December 18, 2008

Poise and Balance is something we forget about every now and again. When building a car, a lot of people overlook balance and attack everything with brute power. Brandon’s FC RX7 is the underpowered underdog nipping at the heels of cars with over twice the horsepower.

After having a mildly built ’67 Camaro, Brandon already had his fun in a straight line…but something was lacking, you can’t exactly attack corners in a steel bodied beast like the Camaro. While a performance minded RX7 without a TII motor sounds pretty crazy, this surely isn’t the fact with his FC. Trying to avoid the whole turbo rotary stigma of “Working 100% of the time, 60% of the time“, this rotard purchased the N/A FC with reliability in mind. (Haha…reliability..)

While not gleaming with parts in the engine compartment, it has the necessary mods such as a custom intake setup, and Borla exhaust. ALL the power that this twin rotor produced almost broke our dyno from sheer energy. It put down a whopping 136hp and 116ft/lbs. All of that earth shattering power is sent through a Stage 2 Competition Clutch paired up with a Fidanza aluminum flywheel and Short Shifter. This car was always meant for Autocross and Roadcourse, so the FC didn’t need a lot of power to do what it was intended to.

The motor wasn’t focused on as much as the most important aspect of this car, The Suspension. Lots of time and thought were put into the suspension setup and stance of the car before purchasing, naturally, Stance coilovers. Rota D2’s mounted on 235/17 Falken Ziex’s. All of this was put on the car at the same time and WOW did it make a difference. Many a highway onramp and offramp have been assaulted while tweaking the 32 way adjustable coilovers to Brandon’s exacting standards. Further suspension components include a Racing Beat front sway bar, Rear steer eliminator, and front and rear strut tower bars.

Another modification important to a low horsepower car is weight. While not weighing much to begin with, in order to extract every bit of available power, there was some things scrapped to reduce unnecessary load. First off all of the carpet was ripped up and all of the sound deadening tar was painstakingly removed (Believe me, it wasn’t fun) and all of the “undercarpet” as well. After all the now lightened carpet was thrown back in, the Spare tire, Jack and AC compressor were removed. While it doesn’t sound like much, you can tell a weight difference when you only have 136 Wheel Horsepower.

I can tell you first hand that this will warp your understanding of physics in a corner of any kind. The first time you go into a corner and Brandon smoothly heel-toes and throws you into a bend, it will surely send a shock to your system. Believe me when I say, This thing handles. My car only has ~230whp, but I can pull away from the FC hard. In the same familiar corner however, when following the FC in my car, I have to half throttle it while Brandon can absolutely keep it to the floor. It really is all about balance. This car is truly an enthusiasts vehicle and goes to show you don’t have to have massive power to keep up with the big boys. It’s far from done, and at the going rate will be a full time attack car before too long. Not only that, but rotaries always have a habit of blowing huge flames at the top of every gear. Below is Brandon’s ’67 Camaro.

That’s just badass…Silly Rotard.