the market some of his beloved cars – including
the Cologne Capri and Dekon Chevy Monza – to
clear a spiraling overdraft. He told me: “The bank
has started making polite statements (but) it
won’t be long before they get impolite!”
A month later, after being told that a potential
deal with BMW had gone the way of an old
nemesis, Frank Gardner, Moffat realised that
Mazda was his only option. He ramped up the
previously secret lobbying and gave me the
exclusive story as the editor of Auto Action.
Under the banner ‘I want to race an RX7’ –
demoted to secondary status on the front page
only by the shock news that Holden had dumped
the HDT – Moffat revealed his hopes of racing for
Mazda in 1980, and the need to get approval for
peripheral port (PP) so the car could compete for
outright wins, not just class victories.
“This is not a technical argument, it is a
political argument,” Moffat said. Little did he know
how long it would rage.
Despite initial opposition from the Australian
Touring Car Association, on which Moffat himself
served as a committeeman, the National Council
of CAMS (which had initially rejected PP in
June) approved it on December 20, impressed
by Mazda Australia’s commitment to supporting
privateers with discounted cars and parts.
However,
the approval
was subject to
objections, and
they came thick
and fast, mainly
from Toyota and
Celica racer
Peter Williamson,
who quit ATCA
when it reversed
its opposition.
Toyota claimed
a more potent
RX7 would distort
market perception
of cars they said
competed in
showrooms, while
Willo argued that
other class cars
should be permitted
similar freedoms,
like an F2 race
engine for his Celica.
“Toyota didn’t want Mazda to be seen as the
top car from Japan,” says Horsley today. “But they
were talking about things they didn’t even make.”Withindays,theNCCfolded
and rejected the Mazda deal.
Ironically, in order to prove
that a standard RX7 would in
fact match a V8 Commodore,
Auto Action tried to organise
a private match race, in which
Moffat and Brock agreed to
drive, only to discover Holden
had stopped making manual
5.0-litre Commodores and
none could be found by
GM-H, Brock or eight dealers
we contacted.
Not helping Moffat’s
cause was a deepening
CAMS governance crisis.
The National Council had
created a new independent
body to run circuit racing,
the Australian Motor Racing
Commission (AMRAC),
and it opposed peripheral port.
AMRAC arrived at its decision after consulting
Phil Irving, the legendary engine tuner and
the brains behind the Repco-Brabham F1
1966/’67 world championship winning 3.0-litreOnce the Mazda deal was set in
stone, Moffat travelled to Japan to
meet the father of the rotary, Kenichi
Yamamoto, before continuing to the
US to test an IMSA-spec RX7 racer.Moffat Collection