GRAND MAZDA FLASH
AMAZDA had never won Summernats Grand Champion or Top Judged – that was until John Saad’s incredible 1972 RX-3 came along. Add to this being judged the 2015 Motorex Grand Master, and you know it’s got serious form. I can almost hear dyed-in-the-wool V8 fans snickering from here. But hang on a minute – any genuinely street-driven machine capable of taking out Australia’s absolute biggest awards definitely warrants closer inspection. Check the detail, check the engineering, comprehend the planning and forethought that has gone into this diminutive screamer, and you’ll quickly understand why FATRX3 has been such a giant-slayer.
This isn’t John’s first award-winning Mazda, either. His previous effort, RXXX3, was good enough to take out gold for Street Elite paint at Motorex 10. But as good as that car was, John was looking to reset the bar with FATRX3.
“It was my goal to win Motorex with an RX-3 with a rotor in it,” he says. “I specifically bought the car to build it into this – a car that was beyond belief.”
FATRX3’S entire build was based around its aggressive stance and massive wheel-andtyre combo.
“In 2008 I ordered the Bonspeed 20x7s and 22x12 rears – Simmons [whose wheels the car now
runs] didn’t do 22s at this stage,” John says. “I took the wheels and tyres to Chris at CS Engineering and we sat the car over them until the sills were 100mm off the ground. I told Chris: ‘That’s how I want the car to drive, no airbags – build it around that.’”
Fulfilling this stipulation required a total re-engineer. Four-link, coil-overs, Z-bar and tubs looked after the rear. Up front the original struts got the flick in favour of a CS Engineering-designed double A-arm set-up.
“Tubbing the front and going to upper and lower control arms was the only way we could tuck so much tyre and still turn the wheels,” Chris says. “FATRX3 drives at this height and nothing hits.”
But that’s only half the story; to keep the car registrable and not chop up the chassis, the entire body has also been lowered.
The suspension mounts are a prime example of the forethought used throughout the build. A full-scale drawing was created, from which all the pick-up points were plotted for optimum geometry, including roll centres, roll axis, squat and instantaneous centres. “John could race this car if wanted to,” Chris says.