Mazda RX-3 Savanna
The little rotary that beat Godzilla's grandad
Here is the one fact that matters: the Savanna RX-3 is the car that ended the Hakosuka Skyline GT-R's legendary touring-car win streak in the early 1970s. That is the whole story in one line. When you go shopping, the two things that make or break one today are rust and rotary compression, so read the buyer notes below before the romance of it carries you away.
The giant-killer
For a few years the first Skyline GT-R had cleaned up in Japanese touring-car racing, piling up a run of wins that was starting to look unbeatable. Sources argue over the exact tally, somewhere around fifty victories with a celebrated streak of forty-odd straight, but the headline never changes: nobody could touch it. Then Mazda turned up with a small, light rotary coupe and did the impossible. The Savanna, sold everywhere outside Japan as the RX-3, is the car that finally beat the mighty Hakosuka. For anyone who loves an underdog, it does not get much better than that.
What it actually is
The Savanna RX-3 ran from 1971 to 1978 as a compact two-door coupe, with sedan and wagon versions alongside it. It is a properly small car by modern eyes, right around a tonne, and that lightness is the whole trick. Under the bonnet sits a twin-rotor Wankel rotary: the early 10A of just under a litre, then the larger 12A. Tiny capacity but sky-high revs, with a power-to-weight figure that embarrassed cars carrying twice the engine. That is how a Mazda which looks like a shopping runabout ended up humbling a works Nissan.
| Era | Rotary | Capacity | Power (approx) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early RX-3 (1971 on) | 10A twin-rotor | ~982cc | ~105ps | The original giant-killer; figures vary by market and year |
| Later RX-3 / GT (1972 on) | 12A twin-rotor | ~1146cc | ~120ps | Bigger rotors, more torque, the one most people chase |
Buying one without getting stung
Rust is the number one killer, same as it is on every 1970s Japanese car. Get underneath and go over the sills, the floors, the rear arches, the boot floor, the chassis rails and the screen surrounds with a torch and a screwdriver. Panels for these are scarce and dear now, so a rotten shell can cost you more than the car will ever be worth. Do not let a shiny respray fool you either, because a magnet and a poke around the seams often turns up a load of filler hiding a bodged repair.
Then there is the rotary itself. A tired Wankel will still start and idle happily, so a rev in the driveway tells you almost nothing. Get a warm compression test done on a proper rotary tester, not a piston-engine gauge, because the rotor faces need a reading that a normal tool cannot give. Weak or uneven numbers usually mean apex seals on the way out, and a rebuild is a serious bill. Now that values have climbed hard, originality and matching numbers matter too, so ask for the paperwork and stay wary of a rough restoration dressed up to look like an honest survivor.
Buy a clean, straight RX-3 and you have got a genuine piece of motorsport history that still puts a grin on your dial. Buy the wrong one and you have got a very expensive rust and seal education instead. Take your time on this one.
Got one, or hunting one?
We are building the register of surviving Savanna RX-3s, from concours 12A coupes to barn-find projects. If yours is out there, get it on the record so the next buyer knows it lived.
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