My name is Thomas Mayes and my car is a 1993 Mazda Autozam AZ-1.

In the mid to late 1980’s, Mazda decided they wanted to make a Kei-sports car. A Kei (or ‘K’ car) is the smallest category of Japanese expressway-legal motor vehicle. The term ‘Kei’ is a shortening of kei-jidōsha, which translates to English as ‘light automobile’.

Autozam was a sub-brand of Mazda, in the same category as the Eunos and Efini. The AZ-1 was just one of the models you could buy at an Autozam dealer, alongside the Autozam Scrum (a kei truck), the Autozam Carol and a few others, mostly rebadges and largely kei or small cars.

Mazda started the project and went through a few various iterations. Eventually they set it on the AZ-550, which was a 550cc version of roughly what the AZ-1 became. They then took it to the Tokyo Auto Salon and showed three versions of it to the public. These were the Type A, B and C. The Type B and C were never realised, but the Type A was the variant that they selected, which is the one that sort of looks like a modern day Autozam. It had pop-up headlights and was slightly different.

That design, which had been messed around and played with inside Mazda for some time, ended up going to Hawtal Whiting, which is an English company. They did the productionized structural engineering for it like rollover testing, once they got the concept and the style from Mazda. It was then produced by Kurata, a manufacturing company in Japan.

Kurata set up an amazing facility with all new production machines, and they tooled it all up for the Autozam. They only ended up making four and a half thousand of them. Towards the end of the AZ-550 project, the regulations in Japan changed. They were originally going to use a Mazda-developed 550cc engine, but with the regulation change you could suddenly use a 660cc engine under the kei-car laws.

Mazda didn’t have a 660cc engine, so that’s why it’s got a Suzuki motor in it. They went to Suzuki and told them we’ve got the AZ-550 concept; we’re going to put it in production, can we put the F6A motor by Suzuki into it?

And that’s why it was then sold under the Suzuki-Cara badging, because Suzuki had contributed the engine. It’s commonly misconceived that Suzuki came up with a concept called the RS/1, which looked a lot like an Autozam, but was actually just a complete coincidence!

Today it’s estimated there’s only 1500 Autozams remaining worldwide, with an active enthusiast following in the United States. In Australia the numbers are far smaller with an estimate of around 15 across the country.

My Granddad once ran a mechanic shop.

He started it as an excuse to buy scrap parts and build rally cars out of them and continue sourcing parts ongoing. With a wreckers business attached, he started rallying. As soon as my Dad was 13, he then started rallying with him. Neither were engineers, but when I turned 12, I started rallying with Dad. I didn’t really have a choice in terms of the bloodline. I then went to university to study motorsport engineering.

The cars that we built as part of that degree were rear-engine, rear-wheel drive and weighed around 180 kilos. I wanted something that was basically a road legal version of what we were working on, which was a super light rear-engine rear-wheel drive and cheap, given I couldn’t afford a Lotus.

Naturally, being a car person in general, I wanted something simple, Japanese and a bit different. I would happily have had a Mini, like that sort of small go-kart kind of thing, but there’s just something special about the Autozam. There’s really nothing else that you can buy that’s quite like it.

I was in my fourth year of university when I bought it and I’d just moved out with my girlfriend. I had absolutely no money to spend on it at all but I really wanted one, so that wasn’t going to stop me. I got in contact with an importer and he managed to find one at an auction that was on Japan’s southernmost island. I pretty much bought the highest kilometre worst condition car I could find and it was also on a Tuesday at a tiny weird auction that clearly no one was bidding at.

I got it for an incredibly good price, which was really how I could afford it. I had 950,000 yen, which worked out to $9 thousand AUD. It had visible rust on it, which turned out to be entirely cosmetic, and I kind of figured based on the location that it wasn’t going to be structural. But that was blind luck. I got it imported under the 25-year rule and it wasn’t too bad to get on the road.

The Autozam needed things like brakes and tires. The seats needed reupholstering and the horn didn’t work, but really just basic stuff like that. I had no money so I sold my other car to fund it and the Autozam became my only car. At the time I lived in a tiny little apartment in Joondalup and worked in Welshpool, which for anyone who knows Perth, is like an hour on the freeway. For the next year I basically commuted in the Autozam for an hour, which was scary because you could see underneath trucks!

I became active in a little K-car trio. There was a dude with a red cappuccino and a red Honda beat. It was quite fun because we had three red K cars, which, in a city like Perth, is just hilarious. That was the ABC of sports cars – the Autozam, the Beat and the Cappuccino. It was a classic kind of thing over the late nineties. There was a financial crisis in Tokyo in 1990 and that’s why the Autozam didn’t sell well. They released the car and then there was a massive financial crisis.

Sadly, nobody could afford an Autozam. There were heaps of Honda Beats and Cappuccinos, but the Autozam was insanely impractical. It came out at a time when people didn’t have money to spend on dumb cars, so they didn’t make money. On the topic of money, mine developed an issue and blew one of the coolant lines to the turbo and I put in a new intercooler and did my own fixes. I then moved to Canberra for work and not long afterwards one of the valves on cylinder three had a sad and it’s now in lots of pieces.

I pulled the engine out, diagnosed that it was just a dodgy valve on cylinder three and no serious damage had been done. But it was here that I accidentally went down the rabbit hole of seeing what was available in terms of building the engine. There’s a company called News GT1, which specifically makes F6A engine parts and a few other things.

Through Rupewrecht, a friend who lives in Melbourne and is a parts importer who then imported some forged pistons and forged conrods for the motor, also some belt train stuff as well. I then thought, well, I just dropped a few thousand dollars on pistons and conrods, so maybe I should spend money on other things too. It was already EFI, but it’s distributed ignition and cable throttle, so I decided to go to the coil and plug ignition, electronic throttle. Partly because the original throttle valve only has a three-position sensor. It’s very hard to control fuelling and spark on acceleration, deceleration.

I pulled the car apart and replaced every nut and bolt, catalogued them, sourced new ones and stripped everything back before a powder coat and paint. All the clips were terrible because the car was quite high kilometres and 30 years old, so I reverse engineered the clips and got them reprinted in powder nylon. I figured there were some bushes for the shifter, which were discontinued, so I reverse engineered how they would work if they were in one piece, which mine wasn’t. I then also did powdered nylon ones of those, too.

I’ve 3D scanned the front and rear sub frames because the suspension geometry from the factory, in my opinion, is quite bad. It’s borrowed from other cars, which kind of makes sense being a low volume vehicle. The Autozam has a single lower control arm, like a single member lower control arm. The MacPherson struts are unique – they’re not common to anything else. The hubs are out of a Geo Metro, which is what they called a Suzuki Swift (and a Holden Barina) over in America.

The way the hub goes together is convoluted and terrible. It’s one of those things where you have to, in order to replace the brake disc, replace the wheel bearing because it has to press apart. It’s rubbish. I’d like to re-engineer that. It makes sense when you’re building a low volume sports car out of parts; you’re trying to make something that’s light, which this isn’t, and then easy to work on. It’s neither of those things.

I would like to put a proper A-arm in the bottom and then make it run a strut from something else, because suspension is expensive – there’s a hundred people in the world that can actually buy suspension for one of these so there are no cheap options. I’ve fully restored everything from the rear firewall onwards. It’s got a big radiator, all new hoses, a new under tray that I made, new plastics and a restored interior. It’s getting there, but still pending an engine machine and unfinished wiring.

There’s not a lot of space in the car. Things like packaging plugs and ECUs actually become a bit of a headache because the original spaces are not that big. So there’s a fair bit of work in that, my goodness.

I’ve learned a lot about myself and the car in this adventure.

It’s got to be right. That’s the worst bit about it. It’s painful having the ability to make things because then you’ve got no constraints and everything takes forever. It’s definitely a blessing and a curse because, as far as I’m aware, I’m the first person to do this amount of work for an Autozam.

And it’s not over yet. There’s engine machining and wiring. Both of those will be limited by money more than anything. Having just bought a house (like an idiot), I envision next year sometime for completion. If you look at the car from front on, you wouldn’t know. It looks perfect, complete. But as soon as you go to the side, there’s nothing behind the rear firewall at all.

This car will never be a daily driver again. I’ve aged a few years since it was and I’ve got a bit more respect for being hit by a truck. I think it will do some time attack racing. It’ll comfortably make 150, 160 horsepower by the time it’s done, and it should be down to around 700 kilos. It’ll be fun. The honest answer is it probably goes on the club register and I drive it one or two days a week and then race. It’s certainly never getting sold.

I mentioned before that, in Australia, we believe there’s only 15 Autozams remaining, with the caveat that not that many of those people are active in the community. It’s growing given that they’re importable under the 25-year rule but they’ve gone up in price astronomically since I bought mine. You can’t even get a rough one for less than $15 thousand dollars. In Canberra there’s myself, there was a couple in Sydney and another who just sold his. There’s maybe two in Victoria, one in South Australia, and it appears there’s another two due for import into WA since I left.

America is a different story, I don’t really know why. I wouldn’t want to drive one on the same road as a Ford F-150. There’s a Facebook group for them, which is fantastic. I’m part of a few car groups and this is a good one. The people in America that have them are quite active. It seems like a lot more people drive them and certainly they buy a lot more parts from me, which is great! Because I think I’m the poorest Autozam owner in the world.

Mazda means a lot to me. They brought me the car that I spent all my money and time on. The engineering team, you’ve got to owe them something, right? The reason I like cars so much is that they’re like a mechanical thing that you can interact with in your daily life. You can make an engineering change, which is like a number or a piece of machining. And then you feel something different when you drive.

It’s insane that you can do something like change spring rates, which is at its core, like the thickness of a piece of wire that gets wrapped in a circle around a stick, but it can change the feeling of the thickness of that piece of wire. Driving the Autozam is an experience. It makes you feel things. I think for me, you go to Mazda for that experience. Like someone engineered that feeling.

Additionally, my partner is extremely tolerant. She’s very good. There was a very small period of time where, I can’t remember specifically, she had a Suzuki Swift, which is another great little car. For some reason I had to drive her Swift for a little bit, which meant that she had to drive the Autozam. The fact that she did that is amazing; when you’ve actually sat in one and felt how unbelievably unsafe they are – there’s a lot of love involved in actually doing that.

Now she pretty much refuses to drive in it, but she’s okay with it existing. Otherwise, I’d be engineering something else. And at least this thing fits in the shed!

Photographed in Tuggeranong by Tyler Parrott of Tyler P. Media featuring Thomas’s 1993 Mazda Autozam AZ1. Article and video hosted by Kevin Ha at StreetScene. Words by Thomas Mayers. Edit and assembly by Justin Bush for MazdACT Stories, October 2024.

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1984. It’s the near mid-point of a decade still fondly remembered today in everything from pop-culture to the arts to apparel. James Cameron’s The Terminator has taken cinema by storm, the Olympic Games are underway in Los Angeles and there’s unrest in the middle east. A world away, in Japan, Toyota is making good on the SV3 concept glimpsed at the 1983 Tokyo Motor Show under intense interest from the press and audience guests.

In May, the Japanese car market is due to be cornered by the first mass-produced mid-engine car of its time. Several rumours persist around a name, but Toyota is ahead of the game. The Midship Runabout 2-seater launches to much fanfare and later gained worldwide fame in motoring circles by a far more recognisable title; the MR2.

The Toyota MR2 began life in meetings around the mid-1970’s. A proposed fuel-efficient vehicle to be driven by passionate motoring enthusiasts, the eventual idea of a mid-engine sports car is still a time away and delayed further by the global energy crises. In 1980 Testing Department Designer Akio Yoshida successfully suggests the mid-engine layout and finds himself appointed Head of Planning. Under development as the SV3 and designed primarily as a commuter car for the individual rather than family, Yoshida takes the mantra of commuting with 1 or 2 people as an experience made fun. He later gains the title of ‘Father of the MR2’.

On launch, demand outpaces supply in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Australia is forced to wait a period of two years with the model arriving in 1987. A bonafide success, it gains accolades such as “Car of the Year” from the UK’s What Car in 1986 and is quickly named one of the “10 best cars in the world” by Road and Track in the US. Australia’s Wheels magazine supplies praise as a “mid-engine jewel” and their favourite sports car of 1988. The first MR2 model, the AW11, proves worthy of these awards and sells over 163,000 units worldwide in a short period. Its four-cylinder Twin Cam 1.6-liter 16-valve engine (4AGE) remains popular in racing for its reliability, while historians note the AW11 can trace some of its influence to Lotus and Dan Gurney for its precise handling.

Australia’s sprawling roads, from the mountains to the coast, prove a worthy testing ground for audience’s keen on a sporty two-seater with a low centre of gravity and quick nature. Perhaps piping Mazda’s incoming MX5 Miata, October of 1989 sees Toyota look to the next MR2 iteration with the SW20 embodying a curvier appearance and a more Italian design. As Australian sales beckon in 1990, the final months of the 1980’s see the AW11 take a bow with at least one finding an enthusiast home in suburban Adelaide.

Lindsay and the MR2.

It’s September in the nation’s capital. The Carlective have gathered in Canberra’s city centre on a cold snap Sunday evening for their very first evening shoot. Odgers Lane, the recently revamped thoroughfare of the Melbourne Building, is tonight hosting Lindsay and her 1989 AW11 Toyota MR2. A set of overhead LED lights bounce balls of light off the black bodywork as a projection installation dances pastels over the interior dash of purples, blue and yellow.

Lindsay’s family are born and bred Toyota, from the mountain ranges surrounding south-east Canberra. Her parents have courted a Toyota HiAce, Camry and Land Cruiser. All have been reliable and great cars with minimal problems, delivering on the A to B. The MR2 is one of two Toyota vehicles in Lindsay’s collection, with the daily a 2001 Mark II JZX110 Fortuna.

Lindsay is almost a missing piece of the car. Often sporting the same black and purple colour pallette by way of attire and a signature hair streak, she is a recent veteran of the Canberra car scene at home with her mixed JDM group, MazdACT or simply cruising alone. Car meets in the nation’s capital are aplenty with something for everyone, and it’s here that her story begins.

“Basically, I went to a car meet with an old friend and saw how cool it was and how fun it was and went, I need to get something. So, I went home and I looked up Toyota with pop-ups because I’m just a big Toyota fan and the MR2 came up. The Wikipedia page showed the SW20 first and I was like, oh yeah, it’s alright, it’s cool!”

Lindsay’s love for a boxy car instead gives way to honing her sights on the A-dub (AW11). It looks like a Dorito chip, and she wants it. On the hunt across the country for six months, she places a ‘want to buy’ advertisement online before a gentleman named John in Adelaide calls to reward her efforts. Unable to get in and out of the vehicle due to age, he sells to Lindsay and soon the A-dub is on the back of a truck bound for Canberra. It arrives in a week.

In Japan the MR2 was initially sold in three grades and with two engine options, the highlight being the iconic 122bhp 1.6-litre DOHC 16v 4A-GE engine later used in the Corolla GT (otherwise known as the AE86). Options were later expanded to include a T-bar roof panel and new headline powerplant with a 145bhp supercharged 4A-GZE. With a 124 mph top speed and ability to sprint to 60 mph in just 8.2 seconds, the naturally aspirated MR2 was faster than much of its competition at the time.

So for a 35-year-old vehicle, it would surprise no one that Lindsay has not touched the engine; ever the reliable instrument that Yoshida designed it to be all those years ago. But in a desire to make the car her own, she buys seats (and this before she even purchased the vehicle!). The SR4 Recaros make their way from Malaysia with a special touch, reupholstered in purple suede. This is followed by a purple carbon fibre steering wheel and Arizona Grapeade Ice T shift knob.

One of her best mates makes a little shift boot in purple and blue. It’s followed by changes to the floor mats and wheels. The repaint to Malbec Black adds a look of stealth and timeless impression. The Toyota auto cover fog lights, perhaps the most expensive of the car’s modifications, are coupled with a wink mod so Linds can operate the headlights at will. Custom number plates, banners and stickers follow with the culmination of a name; Vixen, for cuteness and sex appeal.

Appeal is something that has followed Vixen in her travels across the territory region. She finds her home in a group of likeminded JDM enthusiasts, forging new friendships and lasting memories en route. Even in transit to this story, a pair of gentlemen in a parallel vehicle pull up at the traffic lights in admiration, nodding and laughing in acknowledgement at the winking headlights. Public perception is not lost on Lindsay, which helps to embrace her passion with unending love.

“I just recently did the Camp Quality Cruise for Kids with Cancer and I was so excited because with the wink mod and everything, I’m like, they’re gonna love it. And they did! I remember rolling into Questacon and there was such a huge crowd and I just started winking and everyone was screaming, oh my God, look at that car! It’s winking at me!”

It’s not a quirk that’s gone unnoticed. The MR2 Club of Australia, a national body of passionate enthusiasts and drivers united in a passion for their own Vixens, held the 40th Anniversary MR2 Nationals event at Sandown International Raceway in 2023. Urged to attend by ACT MR2 Owners Club Representative Anthony Oh, Vixen found herself on a trailer for 8 hours headed south to Melbourne for the largest gathering of the vehicles in the southern hemisphere, totaling 153 cars and featuring representations as diverse as Vixen to a rare SW20 Spyder.

The event celebrates the best of the AW11, SW20 and ZZW30 ( and the Spyder). Awards are numerous including the President’s Award and People’s Choice Award. Notably, for the People’s Choice Award, every entrant is given a goodie bag from Shannon’s and an invitation to write down the car they most like. After years of a self-driven passion to enjoy the car she wanted from the outset, Lindsay suddenly finds herself the unexpected winner of the People’s Choice Award.

“I got a little trophy and it was just very heartwarming. I got to chat to so many people that day from all over Australia. It was just so wholesome and made me want to go to more events like that”

With the MR2 Nationals held every two years, Lindsay and Vixen have plans afoot to pursue that ideal aesthetic look for 2026. This includes work on the roof liner and side door cards. All are likely to benefit from further fluffy material applications, which we are told will appear in a light purple, dark purple and white fabric for the roof liner and a dark fluffy purple for the door cards. At this point, one has to draw attention to the lingering question. Why purple?

“I don’t know. It’s just always been my favourite colour. I used to like blue when I was younger, but I’ve always liked purple. It’s very versatile. You can go darker shades, lighter shades, pastel. I’ve just always loved it and I think it looks really good with black as well, which is why I’ve gone for the black and purple”

2024. The forty years that have elapsed since the MR2 so successfully graced the car market may well have been in some sort of paradox loop. Terminator Zero is receiving high praise as an animated series after several disappointing cinematic entries, Los Angeles has been announced as the home of the Olympic Games in 2028 and conflict has again inflamed the middle east.

In these intervening decades, the AW11 is followed by the second generation SW20 in 1990. It retains the same mid-engine layout but is far more powerful with a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution, T-bar body design and a later suspension revision in 1992. It is made available in a three-engine line-up that includes a 2.0-litre 16v power plant: a base 119bhp unit from the Carina (UK only), the naturally aspirated 3S-GE with 165bhp and a turbocharged 3S-GTE with 225bhp (Japan only and shared with the Celica GT4 as designed by Yamaha).

In 1999, the ZZW30 Spyder open-top marks the third iteration of the MR2. The same engine layout is retained but designers see fit to return to the original AW11 design with a lighter, smaller engine. A 1.8-liter VVTi engine pushes 960 kg of two-seater fun across the globe in a soft-top variant after some experimenting by Toyota in 1996. Worldwide sales of this version remain strong, but the early 21st century unwinds this progress with a sharp downturn scuttling plans for another entry. At least, as the internet rumours, until a resurrection in 2026 after a prototype glimpse in Japan.

Sales conclude in the US and Australia at the end of 2005 while production continues in Japan, Mexico and Europe until a complete cessation in 2007. It’s a little runabout that now lives on in owners like Lindsay, sharing the legacy of the late Yoshida with so many new faces in the national capital region and at commemorative events such as the MR2 Nationals.

Locally, MR2 ownership and upkeep has become challenging and expensive. Knowledge, skills and parts are getting rare and there is now less visibility on the streets. As owners point out to the team – it’s financially illogical to own one, so you do so for the love of it. Clubs such as MR2 Australia help to connect like minded people and to support each other, to counter the challenges, prolong the legacy and enjoy the nostalgia. As Lindsay herself notes;

“It brings me a lot of joy. I’ve actually made a lot of friends through the car and it’s just been a really nice journey. I love driving it. Every now and then I lose motivation until I get in the car and drive it and I go, yeah, this is why I have it. This is why I keep it. This is why I spend the money. Yeah. I love it!”

Linds concludes her story with a public service announcement, to urge readers and enthusiasts to fill that empty garage space or next car journey with an MR2. Specifically, an AW. She highlights it would be great due to their rarity in Canberra or, at all, and that it would be nice to have another AW11 friend. In the meantime, the team urges readers to say hi to Lindsay and Vixen at meets or special events where the pair are at home bringing joy to the community through a lifelong appreciation of all things Toyota.

Oh, what a feeling… You know the rest.

Photographed at Odgers Lane, the Melbourne Building and 7/11 Jerrabomberra, by Tyler Parrott of Tyler P. Media featuring Lindsay’s 1989 AW11 Toyota MR2 (Vixen). Article and video hosted by Kevin Ha at StreetScene. Additional photos by Anthony Oh at AO_Graphics. Words, research and story by Author Justin Bush for MazdACT Stories, September 2024.

The Author wishes to acknowledge citation and extracts for this story from the following sources;

1. Toyota MR2: a Mid-Ship Runabout 2-seater history by Joe Clifford for Toyota UK Magazine (various citations, 2015)
2. A Classic of the Modern Era: The Toyota MR2 (History of MR2 extract) by Brian Long from the book MR2 Coupes and Spyders (various citations, Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2017)
3. Toyota MR2, Wikipedia (various citations, last revised 2024)

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It’s late winter in the nation’s capital and The Carlective team are gathered in pouring rain. Cameras are out, lights are in action and some crew brave an end of season head cold and flu to work together in getting another great story to print.

The former John Curtin School of Medical Research (superseded in 2003) is located on Balmain Crescent on the Acton Peninsula, part of the sprawling Australian National University campus. The area holds a unique moment in time where the modern meets the past, as buildings of the 1950’s collide with newer variants that, at the time, had to accept change around the 1970’s to compete with the world’s best and brightest.

It’s a change of optimism and innovation that Mazda can surely relate. Following the successful introduction of the Mazda R100 into the Australian car market in 1970, the power of the rotary put down firm roots on roads and in hearts that developed into the iconic culture we know today. But if the R100 was the appetizer, then the RX series that followed was a main course delivered every night of the week with a love and passion identified here in Jason’s 1974 Mazda Series II RX3 sedan.

“I admire Mazda for having the balls back in the day to try the rotary motor. That’s why I love them. They’re the only manufacturer that went into full production with rotary motor cars. You have the odd one here and there, with other brands, but no one’s like Mazda”

Arriving late in the piece, Jason has been into rotaries since teenagerhood in the 1990’s. He was bred on fast fours as a child with a Dad who undertook nut and bolt restorations from scratch, always tinkering where time applied. If generational change was on the horizon in Jason’s family, it was no more present then in the garage.

“Dad initially wasn’t a fan, because he didn’t really know much about rotary motors. He’s more of a Ford V8 type person. But I took him for a spin in it, when I had the last motor in and yeah, he shouted! He couldn’t believe it. That something so small capacity made so much power”

In his own journey, Jason became a man of the Datsun 1600. But watching the RX platform increase in value and following the heartstrings of his youth, he undertook a year’s worth of searching to land on the pride and joy we see here today. Forty thousand dollars and a transfer from Sydney to Canberra later, he entered into the world of the Mazda rotary enthusiast.

Over ten years of ownership, much has occurred to the car. There have been upgrades to the front and rear suspension and the drivetrain. It’s on its third motor, a genuine 12A. Every nut and bolt has been pulled apart and put back together. Currently it’s not running a boost option with a rev limit of 5,000, but in a thousand kilometers time it will return to Sydney to correct this and add back some sweetener to an already packed journey. We note the gorgeous gunmetal grey shell, which Jason suspects isn’t original.

“I actually came across some photographs of it. It was sitting on the back of a tow truck with Queen Street stickers up the side because it’s the same color as when I bought it. If you pull it apart in the rear, under the back seat, it’s all white. I assume it was actually white from the factory and it looks like it was the first coat ever put down. I’ve seen hints of green and red, too. Currently it’s like a gunmetal grey, called graphite. I myself haven’t done the anything to the paint – that was all the previous owner and it’s been painted that color for 20 years”

Mystery repainting aside, Jason is an optimist when it comes to any further work. Aiming for plausible expectations, he is seeking 400 horsepower at the rear wheels and a good tune before just enjoying the RX3 as a weekender around the nation’s capital. He explains that he doesn’t wish to get carried away in a drag car that you never drive around the streets; leaving the drag strips, tracks and numbers games to others.

“When I was a teenager, you’d hear rotary motors and you didn’t really understand them and know much about them – they just sounded so different. Then once you actually understand it and you get a boosted one and go for a drive, you’re like, holy shit. It scares the bejesus out of you at times! I shake like a leaf when I start the car up sometimes, when on boost. You immediately know what you’re in for”

As the years tick forward, Jason is well aware of the exhilarating feel a rotary ownership brings behind the wheel. He ironically compares the rarity of a once common Australian vehicle to that of a Hyundai Excel, once prevalent any day of the week but now rare and still favoured by niche groups. Another loss that is perhaps more widely felt is in the design itself, with a comparison to new vehicles lacking any kind of classic detail once found in the RX series. It’s a design that is unlikely to ever make a return in the world of streamlined ideologies.

As the weather eases, Jason is back behind the wheel and equipment pack up is underway. The iconic brap of the RX3’s rotary is alive and it’s a soggy drive home on to the outer suburbs, not that Jason is complaining. When approached about whether his partner is often a co-pilot, he points out that it’s dependent on whether the car is boosted or not. A lack of radio and air con doesn’t help the situation, but perhaps its being one with the car that instills some solo appreciation – though we note they both share a common love of horsepower.

“She appreciates it because we grew up together, since we were teenagers. She knows what they have, but she’s just not a huge fan of them. She’s into horses, so a different kind of horsepower, obviously. She’s got one horsepower… and I’ve got 400!”

We can’t argue with that.

Photographed at the Australian National University by Tyler Parrott of Tylerp.media featuring Jason and the 1974 Mazda Series II RX3 sedan. Article hosted by Kevin Ha at StreetScene. Words, research and story by Justin Bush for MazdACT Stories, August 2024.

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Lachlan is at home with the piano.  

A musical vessel not easily mastered; his hands find solace in the exploration of the keys as they attune to jazz pieces such as Misty or Autumn Leaves. We learn that Deference for Darkness, a gorgeous film noir inspired track from the Xbox game Halo 3: ODST, is on his radar and only if to satisfy a stroke of luck in speaking with the game’s composer last year. 

“It’s a big part of my life. Music’s always been a huge part of my life. I play piano. There’s a certain type of clarity that you feel when you play. You feel like one with the piano” 

The same can be said of Mazda’s recent innovation in design thinking with the Kodo methodology; that the driver is one with the car in everything from the body to the mind. Where music may course through the hands of Lachlan’s creative spirit in an outlet of relaxation and peace, so too does the knowledge of being in control of his 2018 Mazda 3 SP25 GT. 

Lachlan is one of those genuine people some are lucky to call a mate. Ever sincere and always humble, he’s currently in study as an Officer for the Royal Australian Air Force in Canberra. Far from his original home, his childhood and youth was spent in the Rockingham region south of Perth, Western Australia. Growing up with a love of musical theatre and dancing (and the piano), his journey into car ownership was one of maturing and that first step to adulthood. 

“As a teenager, when you get your license and you start looking for cars, it’s all you really start thinking about. There were two sides to my friends driving. One was driving his Mum’s Mazda CX-5 and there was a mate with a straight-piped Hyundai Tiburon. There was not really an average – it was just kind of two sides of a spectrum”

Striving to find that middle ground, Lachlan and his parents visited a John Hughes dealership in Perth. Looking at several cars that weekend, there were some considerations toward a Hyundai Veloster, Subaru BRZ and Lexus IS250. But at the back of the lot shining in the late model deep blue crystal colour scheme was the Mazda 3 SP25, offered for a fair price and capturing his attention in the knowledge that Mazda had applied all the modern touches a first car owner could want. Minus some gutter rash on the shadow chrome 18-inch rims from the former owner, the car was perfect. 

Lachlan’s first driving experience was delayed by his return to school to sit his ATAR exams. His Mum and Grandad would drive the car back south from Perth, where they quickly learned of the then new I-stop feature; the battery of the car shuts off when stationary at traffic lights to conserve power and has since gone on to cause mixed feelings for owners. 

“I remember my Grandad saying he thought the car had broken because they were sitting at the traffic lights, and he’s used to older cars mind you, and the car cut out and he went, shit! We bought a lemon!” 

Far from a Lemon, the journey with the vehicle has been in leaps and bounds. The interior has seen the steering wheel wrapped with real leather, some gauges and minor carbon fibre overlays. The exterior carries the popular aftermarket MPS-style rear wing, but it’s under the bonnet where something not common to this series of vehicle has occurred.  

Not that there is an official count, but Lachlan is the ninth person in Australia to supercharge their Mazda 3 SP25. A small twin-screw supercharger, an increase in displacement from 2.5 to 3.5 litres has seen a dyno result of about 210 kilowatts at the wheels. The addition of forced induction was assisted by forum supporters, followed by the oil catch can and cooler for the supercharger. The colder spark plugs are the same as those from an R35 Nissan Skyline. These are supplemented by an upgraded fuel pump and stickier tyres to match the power and handling of his modifications. 

“You see so many Mazda 3’s on the road, whether it’s the older generations or the newer variants. I thought, why not make it more unique? I’ve always wanted to stand out. So, I thought, why not make this car different? You see so many of them. When someone sees this one, they’re going to remember it” 

At the time of writing, there are some remaining adjustments he wishes to make. Lachlan has purchased lowering springs to gain a small drop for the car which will be complemented by BC Racing coil overs featuring a custom spring rate of 5 kilograms in the front and 7 kilograms in the rear. He’s also ordered solid slot rotors and braided brake lines from HEL, coupled with EBC brake pads from America and new end links and rear sway-bar. These will be useful for when he takes the vehicle to the track, as he did with the MazdACT Day Out at Pheasant Wood Circuit in 2024. 

The mechanical component is but one sign of growth for the boy from Rockingham. The car has seen Lachlan’s first big step into adulthood and independent decisions related to income and life choices. His freedom has come with a firm direction in career and a reminder that the values and teachings of his parents are very much with him in his journey. 

“There are things where it’s a representation of me maturing, me growing up. The car and I are from WA and now I live here. I kind of think of it as the main thing that I have from home. It’s my connection both to Canberra, because of all my memories that I’ve made with it are here, and the excitement and build-up and connection to home. I haven’t forgotten the help from my parents and grandparents to obviously purchase the car with no finance or anything” 

While the SP25 GT is his embodiment of the Kodo way, Lachlan’s appreciation of the brand extends beyond his vehicle to a larger piece of the car culture puzzle. Since childhood and playing racing game emulators such as Forza Horizon, watching his favorite YouTubers buy and repair their dream cars; Mazda always stuck out. Now a regular in the local car scene, he is living the dream of having a nice car, being able to craft it to his delight, have fun and meet like-minded people with whom he can share his passion and how much it means to him. It’s his escape from work and his studies when required. 

“When you look at the car community looking in on Mazda, people respect Mazda. I think there’s certainly a reason for that, and I’m a part of that” 

In closing the parallels between piano and car collide; be it the keys of musical reward or the supercharged rhythm of the engine, Lachlan gains the same feeling from both. Whether he’s just on the road in a regular driving pose or focused intently with a helmet affixed on the track, there’s a sense of peace. He uses the phrase man and machine; that you feel connected to something external to yourself.  

“It’s a magical thing…” 

Photographed at the Kingston Foreshore by Tyler Parrott of Tyler P Media featuring Lachlan Goffage and the 2018 Mazda 3 SP25 GT. Article hosted by Kevin Ha at StreetScene. Words, research and story by Justin Bush for MazdACT Stories, July 2024.