Rebuilt Mazda RX3 propels race dream

When evergreen motorsport competitor Roger Brader noses up the start of stage one of Rally Wairarapa tomorrow one of the many things flashing through his mind will be crashing out of the same event two years ago.
On that occasion he over-cooked the right-angle transition from gravel to seal outside the old Ihuraua School and slid sideways into a ditch he'd forgotten about.
The crash stove in the left side of his Mazda RX3, giving navigator Stu McLean a good old shakeup. The damage that put the car out of the rally was to the left rear brakes. The panel damage was something they could live with, but the loss of brakes put the car on the trailer.
In the ensuing two years Roger has had the historic old rallycar - he's owned it for 24 years - restored to factory-new condition. Before the accident the RX3 was looking its age - "it had had more hits than Elvis", he said. Now it's an absolute minter. And in the process he's installed the car's "best-ever" engine, a 13b peripheral port rotary which is producing about 300hp (a third more than the old engine) at 9000rpm.
Roger hasn't been inactive during the rebuild of the RX3. After a few tastes of circuit racing in son Matt's Pro-7 RX7 Roger bought himself one, which has also had a rebuild. Heart of that is a turbocharged rotary engine which will put out around 500hp. That's a whole bunch more fun for the Masterton car dealer this summer.
"It would have been nice to have this sort of gear 20 years ago," he reflected.
One word keeps coming up when you talk to Roger Brader. "Fun" is what motorsport in general, and this weekend in particular, are all about. The man who has been a Wairarapa Car Club member since 1969 intends "to go out, do some skids, and have fun".
He has no great ambitions, competition-wise. "If we finish I'll be satisfied," he said.
There's one other very fast RX3 in the event, driven by Euan Fuge. Would the extra power help the Masterton men to foot it with Fuge?
"Euan's very good," said Roger. "It would be nice to think we could keep him honest on some of the stages, but he'll be on (pace) notes and we won't, so we can't really expect to beat him."
Stu McLean is looking forward to the rally. He's a veteran, having got his competition licence nearly 30 years ago, around the same time as he got his driver's licence. He's been a rally driver, as well as becoming a very experienced navigator.