The Original GRUMPE RX2 Sedan.

Normally aspirated rotary performance was the only way to make a true street rotary perform a few years ago. With keeping this in mind, when I began building my RX-2 sedan, I had no idea of the effect it would have on my life in general.

The car was only built to go cruising with my mates and maybe one-day making a brief track debut. I started with a $750 RX-2 sedan back in 1990, which I'd found in the back corner of a local Panel Shop covered in dust. For the next few years, the RX-2 lived in my backyard under a tarpaulin. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to build it or not.

In 1992, the decision was made to either build it or sell it, as you can probably guess, I decided to keep it. From that day, I wanted to do the car my way, with my engine, my paint colour, my interior etc. The car was taken to a good mate of mine, Gareth Davies, to strip, paint and repair. A Standox colour was chosen out of about 30 different possibilities and once it was on the car, I knew I had made the right choice. In the meantime, I had ordered a set of F9R Simmons, which for that era, were a pretty cool looking wheel and new custom number plates, GRUMPE.

Next came the engine. Originally, the sedan was fitted with a Matt Cole Bridgeport, which I had brought second hand. It didn't last too long and a series of standard 13B engines were used (offering a pretty sad 14.6 @ 88mph) until a good friend, Bill Nabhan (formerly from RotorAction Padstow), offered to build me a pretty serious 13B Bridgeport. Given Bill's knowledge of the normally aspirated ported rotary engines, I knew I was going to be in for the ride of my life. After destroying about 15 gearboxes, around 11 complete diffs (axles and centres) and 2 tailshafts, the decision was made to toughen up the rest of the car.

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Firstly, the standard RX-2 diff was replaced with the commonly used Ford 9" diff (5.1 Richmond Gears, 31 spline axles, mini spool) and the gearbox was upgraded to a Toyota Supra 4 Speed. The sedan began to take shape. I loved the reliability of my new combination that much, that I had made it a regular at Sydney's Eastern Creek Street Meetings and also several street hangouts such as Dinos Diner at Tempe (Sydney), Wollongong's South Beach and Harry's Café De Wheels (Sydney).

The Eastern Creek street meetings were really becoming a happy hunting ground for the sedan, so much so, that I went through around 14 meetings without losing a run (averaging around 10-12 runs per meeting).

The best ET recorded was a very strong 12.4 @ 108 mph. Not bad for a normally aspirated Bridgey. This was when I decided to get a little serious. Rob Madden from MaddeNitrous (OZNOS) had been making direct port Nitrous Oxide kits for Rotary engine's for some time but had never really sorted out a serious rotary kit. After installing the available kit with lame 50hp ONLY jets, it was time to test it.

From that point on, I was the biggest N2O fan on the planet. I wanted to gas everything from all my mates' cars to my mum's Stock standard Nissan Bluebird. But firstly I had to "up" the jets in my own car. Gareth Davies came to the rescue was a set of 150hp jets from his very stylish 308 powered EJ Holden. A quick adjust of the timing and off we went. I was that happy, that I wanted to run anything with wheels, in fact, I went through 6 bottles of N2O in 2 days pretty cool huh….

Back to Eastern Creek, the following meeting, and with conservative 100hp only jets on board, we went through with a 12.01 @ 110mph. The temptation got too much and I swapped the 100hp jets with the already proven 150hp jets. 11.47 @ 119mph was the result, making me the fastest non-Turbo rotary (Chris Fakinos SIK-100 11.66) and fastest outright Bridgeport in Australia. That record still stands 11 years on in street trim. (Given the fact that our sedan always ran with full trim, glass windows and untubbed).

The next few months were pretty consistent (all around 11.5 - 11.6) but I couldn't seem to better my time. So we packed up the car and headed to the 1996 Jamboree at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland. My first pass was an awesome 11.42 @ 121mph in qualifying. First round of elimination's, I went through with a 11.73 @ 115mph and then the second pass jumped to a 11.27 @ 118mph.

After another 2 years of racing, also appearing on the front cover of Fast Fours and Rotaries Magazine Vol. 8 No.3 and being crowned the Fast Fours & Rotary Nationals burnout King in 1997 (runner-up in 1996), I decided to quit the Street Drag Racing scene to pursue a new challenge in the way of Motocross/Supercross, I had been doing Club Race days but never really had a full on shot, which I felt, now was the time. The car was sold in early 1998, to Bill Nabhan (then at MazSport Blacktown).

.Car - 1970 (Series 1) Mazda RX2 sedan with Series 2 front headlight assembly

Engine - Mazsport RX4 13B Race Bridgeport

Rotors - S4 lightened and balanced

Shaft - Cross-drilled and balanced

Intake - 51mm weber and 150hp direct port Nitrous extended float bowl

Exhaust - Two and three quarter inch custom madrel bend exhaust with 72" primaries - Unique Mufflers - Steve Nabhan

Cooling - RX4 13B radiator and oil cooler

Gearbox - Toyota Supra

Clutch - Steel flywheel, 1 tonne plate and brass button clutch

Diff - 9" with 31 spline axles, 5.1 Richmond gears with mini spool

Interior - Recaro, MOMO and Autometer

Wheels - Centreline Convo Pro 15x4 Front and 15x8.5 Rear

Paint - Standox Barbados Green (by Gareth Davies)

Power - 241rwhp @ 6800rpm no N2O Mazsport - Dyno Dynamics

The car ran an 11.27 @ 122mph at Willowbank in 1996 and ran a 11.41 @ 119mph at Sydney's Eastern Creek making it the fastest Bridgeport in Australia. It also won the 1997 Fast Fours and Rotary Nationals Burnout comp and was runner up the year before (1996). The car was featured in Fast Fours and Rotaries, Volume 8, no 5 in 1995 and was sold to Mazsport in 1997.

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I have recently purchased my original RX-2 Sedan back after a 4 year absence. Over the past few weeks, my attention has been draw away from the Pro Street RX-2 Coupe, and focused mainly on the Sedan's return from the DEAD...I decided that it would take a huge effort to run both cars competitively, so I've taken a step back away from the Pro Street Drag Racing scene and the Coupe was sold in the process. In 2002, I'll be racing the Sedan at Eastern Creek mainly so I'll have more time for starting off my Circuit Racing career (I also purchased a S2 RX-7 Improved Production car)

Over the past 4 years, the Sedan has been through 3 different owner's before I had the opportunity to buy it back. Nothing had changed (apart from the motor conversion). When it was sold to MazSport, the Race Bridgeport motor was removed and replaced with a streetable Bridgeport 13B, before being resold to one of Bill's customers.

Nothing had changed on the car over it's 4 year holiday and as you could imagen, it was in desperate need of some refreshment. The Motor, Gearbox, Wheels, 9" diff, fuel system, Gauges, Full Wiring loom, Microtech etc have all been removed and will be updated with New and Improved Hardware. The transformation started almost straight away. I'll be running a Series 6 13B block, Hilux 5 speed?? (Thats right) and a Rotorspeed.com MoTec ECU . The Engine bay had to be Bead blasted and the exterior needed a full respray which has been recently completed by Pro Paint at Austral in Sydney. Pro Racing's Pete Cleary is responsible for the Sedan's Drag Strip Antic's and given he's reputation, I know I'm in safe hands.

My plans for the car have recently changed... Realizing that the IPRA RX-7 was going to take up alot of time and money than I originally thought, I decided to put the Sedan up FOR SALE once again. After finally tracking down the Sedan again, it was pretty hard to make the decision to let her go. I received about 15 phone calls regarding the Sale of the Sedan and I still wasn't 100% sure whether or not I would actually go through with it.

This car wouldn't have been made possible without the help of the following people, Their tireless help made building this car a hell of a lot of FUN... And that's what it's all about...

Thank You's

Bill Nabhan, Rotor Action Padstow, Mazsport Blacktown, Tuffy Mufflers Alexandria, Craig Wasson (Craig's Towing Service), Pete Cleary (Pro Racing), Marcel Lopez, Gareth Davies, Cameron Roach, Paul Bartolo, Jeff Fenech, Michael Posa, Michael Alexander, Dean Evans (Fast Fours and Rotaries), Steve Nabhan (Unique Mufflers), MaddeNitrous (Rob Madden)..