Mazda FC RX-7 — Andrew Redward (Pro)
Making his return to D1 this season, Californian-turned-Kiwi Andrew Redward has shown up with his out-of-the-box beach-vibe FC. Running C’s Garage 555 knuckles, Andrew has developed his own custom lower control arms (LCAs) to suit, which are based off the factory examples that have been boxed and extended with bigger steel plates on the ball joints for strength. He has also used inner rack spacers to ensure it gets full travel, and tinkered with a lot of the MacPherson components.
“It used to rely a lot on the camber at the top to make all the adjustments, it changed the KPI [king pin inclination] and would get a lot of wheel flop. I brought all [of] that right out and made all the camber adjust at the hub, which means the wheels are turning at a better pivot angle, giving better traction, and better lock.” It doesn’t run much Ackermann in it, but he was quick to tell us it’s definitely not a negative Ackermann set-up. Keeper springs have been installed in the front OZ Racing coilovers after drooping everything down and measuring it out on full bump, where the wheel gets a lot more travel — impeding the front grip on lock — so that it’s not trailing around and is actually doing what it’s meant to be. The rear has had the same done to avoid hitting the bump stop and losing traction on big bumps.
“There’s not much you can do in the way of the rear, so we run Parts Shop Max arms for better alignment.” he said. There are no sway bars front or rear, as the front simply doesn’t fit, otherwise he would test it, and the rear’s been turfed at the advice of others. Depending on the track, he will adjust the rear bump between hard and soft, with smooth tracks being dialled in harder, and bumpier tracks — like Tauranga and Rod Millen’s Hahei driveway — being set softer.