Gallery: The RE Amemiya x Power Craft NA-7 FD3S – RE20B 3-Rotor

Since its debut last year, I’ve had a slight obsession with the RE Amemiya/Power Craft NA7 FD3S.  In 2023, I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked with it, so during this season I specifically set some time aside to study it.

The first few hours I had with the car came during one of their first Tsukuba tests of the season in early January.  I talked with Ikeda and the crew a little bit, but given their time constraints, I didn’t want to bother them too much. So, instead, I sat back and just enjoyed it as a spectator.  Having the car isolated, outside the constraints of a busy event, was the ideal environment to appreciate the build.  The smooth but pronounced lines of the D1 kit, the sound of potential energy emitted from the NA 20B at idle, and the screaming contrast in volume as Ikeda propelled it down the front straight. That was the day I filmed the Machine Check video below.

 

In the many practice events leading up to the Attack Championships, I would have more chances to see the RX7 back on track.  During one such event held by Zummy Racing on February 12th, I was lucky enough to run into Mr. Amemiya himself, who had come out to Tsukuba to see his creation at work. Given that he was alone at the time I had walked over there, he humbly opened up a conversation with me.

Despite being a renowned figure in Japanese tuning, Amemiya has always struck me as approachable; I can’t really say that for everyone.  I asked him some general questions about the kit, restricted by my conversational language skills, and he asked a bit about me.  It wasn’t the first time I had met him (I did not expect him to remember that), but it was the first time I got to talk to him for awhile.  The conversation wasn’t notable in any way, other than it being held with the person who built one of my favorite cars in Japan, but I suppose that in itself is memorable.  I took a lot of photos on my phone to reference during my own personal FD build.  I’ve played around with the idea of getting the D1 widebody myself, but using the older AD Facer N1-05 front bumper in place of the new D1 wide bumper.  The D1 kit is now sold with the carbon spats to mate the Facer bumper to the front fenders.  I wasn’t always a big fan of the D1 kit until I was introduced to the NA7.  There are some very specific reasons this particular FD makes the kit look so much better.  The swept back wing, the more narrow spokes of the GTC02, the thinner sidewall of the 295/30 series A050, the modified rear diffuser, and of course the ride height.  Many of the D1 kitted RX7’s are on a 5 or 6 spoke wheel with much higher ride height, which both have a small, but powerful effect on changing the overall appearance of the builds.

In addition to the aesthetic pros of the NA7, the naturally aspirated 20B adds an aura to the car found very little else.  The sound of the naturally aspirated rotary, designed for the sole purpose of turning laps on circuit, tops the list of things I love about this car.  Enjoy the gallery, and check out the video if you haven’t already.