themotorhood.com5
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W
hen the owner of a feature car makes a remark like,
“I don’t know how it stays alive, I really don’t”, one
is quick to conjure up thoughts of limiter bashing
and tyre frying with little mechanical sympathy
displayed. Or, more likely for anyone who attends
events in the North Island, images of the last time you witnessed
Ryan Dorricott delivering said beatdown to his ‘RUFCNT’ Mazda
RX-7 come flashing back.
Developed from a street car to a full-blown race car that hides
many hidden talents and more data-collecting capability than the
GCSB, the RX-7 is a long-suffering victim of abuse, having endured
nine years of torture in Ryan’s hands. Like most survivors, it wears
the scars to prove it with pride. However, we’d say that Ryan is
underselling himself a little when questioning why the FD is still
alive, the reason being that he clearly knows what he’s doing when
it comes to building a tough race car — which is reassuring given
that it’s also his day job!
Having cut his teeth on the drag strip with his self-built
11-second 13B turbo KE25, Ryan purchased the FD as a street
car back when, as he puts it, “they were a dime a dozen, and you
could pick them up for next to nothing”. Now that he owned the
single-turbo streeter rocking a Garrett T71, the drift bug soon took
hold of Ryan; slowly but surely, the desire to retain the WOF on the
window melted away in favour of making the FD’s full-time job killing
tyres. It even contested a few D1NZ rounds in this guise, although it
ultimately sealed its fate with a trip into the concrete barrier at D1NZ
Baypark. It was time for it to kiss the road goodbye and become aHEART
ENGINE: Mazda 13BREW, 1300cc, two-rotor
BLOCK: 13BREW block, stage-two ported plates (small cnc bridgeport on centre
plate), lightened FD3S rotors, 2mm I-Rotary seals, balanced rotating assembly
INTAKE: Mazda Cosmo manifold, Dynopower-built intercooler, K&N filter
EXHAUST: Four-inch exhaust, single Adrenalin R muffler
TURBO: BorgWarner EFR 9180, Dynopower equal-length manifold
WASTEGATE: TiAL 45mm
BOV: Turbosmart
FUEL: 82 litre Jaz fuel cell, dual Carter lift pumps, dual Bosch 044 pumps,
Aeromotive fuel-pressure regulator, four Siemens 2400cc injectors, AN fittings
throughout
IGNITION: AEM Smart Coils, ICE ignition booster
ECU: Link G4+ Thunder, dual-wideband sensor, dual-EGT sensor, dual-turbo-
pressure sensors, turbo-speed sensor
COOLING: Custom Dynopower radiator, under-driven water pump, custom swirl
pot, dual fans
EXTRA: Custom breather, under-driven alternatorWhile it might look a little used on the outside,
the engine-bay fabrication is immaculate and
extends to a complete suite of custom coolers