The Mazda RX-3 was an automobile sold in the 1970s. It was intended to be smaller and sportier than its brother, the RX-2/Capella Rotary. It was available from September, 1971 through 1978 in coupe, sedan, and station wagon forms. It was was based on the compact Mazda Familia and was sold in Japan as the Mazda Savanna. Sold from 1972 through 1978 in the United States, the RX-3 was extremely successful.

It originally used a 10A rotary engine like the Mazda R100, but American cars shared the larger 12A engine from the RX-2.

• Wheelbase: 2286 mm
• Front Track: 1295 mm
• Rear Track: 1295 mm
• Length: 4064 mm
• Width: 1600 mm
• Weight: 884 kg

See also:

• A-Spec '71 Savanna

Racing

The Savanna/RX-3 was the next Mazda racing entry, following up the success of the Cosmo and Familia Rotary. The Savanna debuted with a win at the September, 1971 "Fuji 500" race.

The cars battled with Nissan's Skyline GT-R on the Japanese Grand Prix in 1972, winning the touring car category there and preventing the GT-R from winning 50 consecutive races. The cars continued to be competative, claiming over 100 victories in 1976, and continue in club racing today.

1972

The 1972 RX-3 was powered by the 10A in Japan but got the larger 12A from the RX-2 for the rest of the world. Its performance was actually slightly lower than the RX-2 due to greater weight. The 1972 RX-3 was the first rotary-powered station wagon.

Engine output was 110 hp (82 kW) and 100 ft.lbf (135 Nm). 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time was 10.8 seconds, and the car ran a 17.1 second quarter-mile (400 m).

1974

The Savanna was updated in June of 1973 for 1974. Mazda put the new 12B "AP" dual-distributor engine in the RX-3. The body was also updated. It was refreshed again in 1975 with a "REAPS-5" engine, and dropped in 1978 to make room for the new Mazda RX-7.

References