Why is this man so crazy about these cars?
Paul Joakim always asked his mom to buy him Hot Wheels. Then he started racing go-karts, and his dad brought home a Mazda RX-7. Soon, Paul was racing cars.
Paul Joakim has been obsessed with sports cars since he was a young boy growing up in Markham. When he was in his early teens, his dad bought a new 1995 Mazda RX-7 and Joakim was smitten. As an adult, Joakim was determined to have an RX-7 of his own …. and he does, as well as a Mazda RX-8 race car.
Joakim, a chartered accountant, who lives in Uxbridge, explains how this happened:
‘I was the kid, who, when I went to the grocery story with Mom, would always ask her to buy me a Hot Wheels. My earliest memories, and most of the old photos, of are me holding a toy race car.
I started racing go karts competitively when I was 12 or 13, and got interested in motor sports. About the same time, my dad brought home a brand new 1995 Mazda RX-7. I was very impressionable and thought it was amazing. I was drawn in by the size and shape of the car, and I read every magazine article I could about it. It had a tiny, 1.3-litre, twin-turbo engine that had a lot of power for its size.
My dad still had it when I got my licence and I got to drive it. I loved it. It was thrilling. It was a beautiful machine. That (third generation) version of the RX-7 was only available in North America for three years (1993 to 1995) and there were only 13,000 of them sold.
I started racing cars. The first car my brother and I shared was a 2000 Toyota Celica, that was sporty and exciting, and I took it on the racetrack. I had a Mazda Protégé 5, then Mazda came out with an RX-8 and I drove that until I got a Toyota truck in 2012. The RX-8 had a rotary engine like the RX-7, but it was not as powerful, didn’t have as much torque.
In 2013, I started racing touring cars at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport) in a regional series and had the itch to try an RX-7. It was about trying to find one that looked new, and I was always scouring Auto Trader and online forums, keeping an eye out. In 2018, I found one in Calgary. A friend of a friend lived there and was able to look at it, and I bought it based on photos and videos. It was a 1995 and red, like my dad’s. It had low miles and was in great condition. There’s a bit of a reliability issue with the rotary engine, but this car’s engine had been freshly rebuilt and there’s a local auto shop in Oshawa I race with that knows rotary engines really well.
These cars have a cult following and people do all sorts of things to them. It’s been in the “Fast & Furious.” I wanted an original one, like the one Dad had. Mine came with a couple of modifications to the exhaust and the 255-horsepower engine is now 300. It has an aftermarket computer in it, just to monitor things. It has stock wheels and tires and a little bit of suspension modification. It looks identical to Dad’s, except his had a black interior and mine has a tan interior.
It’s not a car you drive year-round and it’s stored for the winter. I don’t race it. I’ve thought about doing the Tail of the Dragon with it or other famous driving routes, but mainly I go for joyrides in and around town and take it different places with my two young sons, or meet up with friends. It’s a serious motorsport vehicle, a race car for the road. If I was a car collector, this would be the first piece in a collection.
My race car is a Mazda RX-8 I bought from Can-Saf Motorsport in Oshawa. I’d had a turbocharged Mazda Protégé race car that I crashed in 2016, then bought this one. It was built by SpeedSource in the U.S. that took the cars right off the assembly line and converted them for the track. This one never had the street legal pieces, such as sound-deafening components. They are really sought-after. I won the Canadian Touring Car Championship with it in 2019.
At our Wrenwood Farm (Wrenwood.ca), my day-to-day vehicle is a Toyota Tundra. My wife Joanna and I breed hunter ponies and horses, and I use it to haul the horses and to take my RX-8 to the track.
I do about three race weekends a year. My dad Chris always comes out and helps out. My sons aren’t into horses or cars, but they enjoy watching me race. I do about three race weekends a year. The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is 25 minutes from my house and it’s one of the world’s best tracks. It’s pure automotive enjoyment.