A fun rendezvous between father and son

On 29 October 2023, an event named ‘Power & Torque’ was held at Fuji Speedway, where a slot was set aside for stock car racing vehicles. Here we introduce the Mazda Familia R100 Rotary Coupe, which took part in the event, entitled ‘Festival of Stock Cars 2023’.

Modified Rotary Coupe purchased in his youth

The Mazda Familia R100 Rotary Coupe entered in Class 2 is a replica of the No. 31 car of Takechi and Katayama, which entered the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race in 1970, marking the sixth fastest qualifying time and was the fastest car after 12 hours. In this 24-hour race, the R100 rotary coupe team, known as the ‘Little Giant’, temporarily took the overall lead against strong European rivals, but just before winning the race, trouble struck. Unfortunately, they missed out on victory.

A recreation of the green No. 33 car, which finished fifth, also took to the track at this year’s Festival of Stock Cars. This car, No. 31 (which retired from the 1970 results) was driven by Mr. Doi, and No. 33 was driven by his beloved son!

“I was 22 when I built this car. That was early, 36 years ago. I’m from Hiroshima, so when I was little, cars like the Mazda Familia and Capella Rotary were around me. So when I grew up and wanted to race old cars, there were R100 rotary coupes in circulation at low prices, so I could easily buy them.”

According to Doi, who told us, the car was driven in stock form for a short while, then modified to a race car replica, and the original body color was bright red.

“At first it was bright red, which also had a racy feel to it, and about 10 years ago I modified it to the specifications of the Spa Francorchamps 24 Hours race held in 1970, but I got to know the owner of car 33, Jin Kato, through JCCA racing, so I decided to use car 31 here. It’s cooler today, so the water temperature and oil noise are fine and the car is in good shape. My son also entered the course in Car 33, Mr. Kato’s favorite car, so we had a lot of fun together.”

Cars 31 and 33, which enthralled the gallery at the Festival of Stock Cars with their distinctive high-pitched rotary sound, will no doubt continue to show off their dynamic driving skills in the hands of Doi and his son.

translated by DeepL