2009 Super Taikyu - Four One One

The car's additional weight mattered little to race-prepped versions, which debuted in 1971 by winning Japan's Fuji 500 race outright, and besting the Skyline GT-R in the aforementioned GP race the following year. The car won First in its division of Australia's Bathurst 1000 (hailed as the "Great Race" by Australian media) in 1974, and defended those standings the following year (holding four of the top five positions), while also placing Fifth overall. It won over 100 other victories in 1976 alone; its 12A engine had become the first engine produced outside the U.S. and Western Europe to finish the grueling 24 Hours of LeMans, and was even adopted in an attempt to break the piston-engine airspeed record in 1977, when two boosted, 330hp 12As were used to power the twin-propeller Aero Design DG-1 to a 450mph top speed.

Based on the success of the R100's and RX-2's trial-run availability in the U.S., the RX-3 became a hit on our shores during its '72-'78 release, and was one of the company's first widely distributed vehicles here. RX-3s were released in coupe, sedan and wagon variants throughout their production (with the wagon becoming the first such body style available with a rotary engine), although coupes quickly became the most popular, and led directly to the decision to release the RX-7 on our shores in 1979.