Track Car of the Year 2021

Porting is a big deal with rotary engines. It’s also something of a black art: a great way to get more power out of them is to open up the holes into the intake side of the engine itself, although the more extreme the ports are, the more lairy and tricky the motor becomes. Bridge porting involves opening out the standard ports, then adding an additional eyebrow port above – this makes the engine less smooth and louder, all of which is OK because peak power will be somewhere around 8,000rpm and, with well-chosen intake and exhaust, you’ll see an enormous power increase. All of which serves as a metaphor for Robbo’s bridge-ported RX-7 as a whole – uncompromising efforts to push the boundaries on all levels. He’s running a single Garrett T04S, massively uprated fuelling and all sorts of other tricks to unleash a very loud 470bhp. The smooth engine bay is finished in candy turquoise, while the body wears a full RE-Amemiya GT wide-arch kit, painted Audi Ibis White and adorned with untold carbon fibre bits and a crazy wrap. The interior is show-car detailed, but this is a hardcore track car at heart: BC Racing BR Series coilovers provide the fancy footwork as Robbo unleashes hell through those tortured rear tyres. An iconic build, and a very worthy winner.