Videos: Future Star's RX7 Racer

Winner of the CAMS NSW 2014 Future Star award was Cooper Calman who has been breaking track records and winning class championships in this Series 6 RX7 that his dad turned into a race car.

Cooper Calman’s father Peter says he “bought this car in late 2010 for Cooper to do the Young Driver Development at Ringwood (Park, near Raymond Terrace, NSW).” Cooper was just 12 at the time and the car started out as a grey import, literally. “Coop drove it for a couple of years as-is” before it was turned into a race car.

After that “We developed the car as Cooper’s skill levels have developed." You can watch the car’s construction progress from stock import to prepared race car, and listen to some Midnight Oil at the same time, in the home video above.

”We’re now at the point where (Cooper's) skill levels have outpaced the car’s performance” says Pete in proud-dad mode. And that statement is absolutely true. Cooper hasn’t just been fast for a junior, he’s been breaking class records for 2B Marque Sports Over 1600cc at various rounds of the NSW Hillclimb Championship and showing impressive pace in other events like NSW Supersprints, NSW Time Attack and the Australian Hillclimb Championship.

Exhibit A is the first round of the 2013 NSW Hillclimb Championship held at Mount Cooperabung by the Kempsey Sporting Car Club. Cooper is only 14 at this stage and already posting times that drivers of any age would be happy with. And watch him calmly catch the oversteer caused by the bump near the end of the run without even losing any time, whereas most of the fully-licenced adults allowed on public roads would have ended up in the trees.

The next clip (above) is an on-board view of Cooper going flat out on the Brabham (extended) layout of Sydney Motorsport Park during the 2014 NSW Supersprint Championship. He only turned 16 a couple of months before this event.

As quick as Cooper can pedal the RX7, it’s not got huge amounts of power, nor does it have any more than just factory aero. It’s a simple and effective package that is driven very skilfully. Pete says “we have concentrated on gaining speed from suspension, brake and tyres; the motor is pretty much in its standard configuration apart from the aftermarket computer and a bridge port”.

The engine is a twin-turbo 13B that has been de-sequentialised and rebuilt with ceramic seals plus those bridge-ported end plates. An Apexi Power FC and a Turbosmart eBoost Street take care of engine and boost management and it also has a large front-mount intercooler. Pete says it’s making a relatively modest 200kW.

The car also has BC 3-way adjustable coilovers, a front strut brace and polyurethane bushes to improve the suspension’s dynamics. Meanwhile the brakes are huge with VTTR Racing multi-piston calipers front and rear plus Hawk pads so Cooper can do as many laps as he wants without fear of fade.

There is a full feature story on the Calman’s FD3S RX7 race car in the July 2015 issue of Fast Fours and Rotaries magazine which is available now in print, or digitally via the Zinio website.

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