For seven years now, Yasuhiro Ando and his team of rotary enthusiasts have been hosting the Rotary Spirit festival; Japan’s largest annual 7’s Day event. Over the years, the Rotary Spirit gatherings have brought hundreds of RX7’s and rotary powered builds from all over the country to be showcased in front of thousands of people. Having originated at Fuji Speedway’s large parking area, the past couple years has seen the event hosted at the smaller Mobara Twin Circuit in Chiba. Drift and time attack exhibitions accompany the car gathering packed with vendors and tuning shops to make for an all inclusive event with the single purpose of celebrating the cars we love.
This year was the seventh, and unfortunately, final Rotary Spirit event to be held. Over 400 cars came out for the last show, and despite the intense heat, had a great time on and off track. The last time I attended this event was back in 2019 at Fuji, and I had yet to go to one at Mobara. With this being the last event, Ando graciously invited me to attend so I could experience it one last time. We arrived early, but it wasn’t long until the morning heat turned into an intense searing wave, so I spent the majority of the day underneath the CSG tent drinking beers with friends. I did take some time to walk around the festival and get video and photos of the cars that caught my eye, as well as a general overview of the attendees.
There were too many cars to keep track of honestly, but if you have some time, check out the festival gallery and if you have any questions about the cars, drop a comment below!
One of the highlights for me was seeing the Rise Yokohama x Mid Night FD that Ogi had just completed. You can see a full feature of this build here.
Random EG6 in the parking lot. The below photos are formatted to be used as mobile backgrounds – feel free to download and use them on your personal phones ~
