The Giant-Killer which ended V8 domination

One cool car on the Enthusiast Insurance stand at the 2025 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge is the Allan Moffat Group C RX-7 touring car tribute. Built as a to pay honour to the car which ended the V8 domination of touring car racing in the early '80s, the tiny two-door rotary is easily identifiable in its iconic Peter Stuyvesant tobacco livery.

The Stuyversant cigarette company joined Moffat from '81 when he switched to Mazda from his longstanding Ford backing. After teething dramas with the fast (but fragile) rotary engine, Moffat won the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship, defeating Peter Brock's HDT Commodore and Dick Johnson's thundering 351ci XE Ford Falcon at the peak of their success.

Following the end of the locally-developed Group C touring car class, Mazda Australia helped Moffat ship the Series 1 RX-7 to America at the start of 1985. Moffat's plan was to run it at the Daytona 24-hour race, then part of the IMSA series, with driving assistance from Gold Star champion Kevin Bartlett, legendary Aussie bike racer Gregg Hansford, and Bathurst 1000-winner Peter McLeod - the grandfather of 2025 WTAC MoTeC Pro Open competitor Cameron.

Battling through many issues the team came home 24th outright, and 7th in GTO class. Today the former race car lives in West Australia still wearing the battle scars of it's race at Daytona, but visitors to the 2025 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge can see a faithful tribute to the iconic Mazda touring car on the Enthusiast Insurance stand, behind the grandstand (accessible via the tunnel under Race Control, or by the access road around the back of the circuit).