SevenStock: Attending the Premier Mazda Rotary Engine Festival
SevenStock, billed as the world’s largest annual gathering of Mazda rotary engine enthusiasts, or rotorheads, is held every fall in Southern California.
Organized by the SoCal RX Club, it has grown from a small local meetup to a large festival attracting hundreds of rotary-powered cars and thousands of spectators from across the country and the globe each year.
SevenStock: 25+ Years of Rotary Engine Passion
The 2023 installment marked 25 years of the SevenStock rotary engine festival, and we were there to take it all in.
This was our first time attending the event. However, it’s been on our radar as THE rotary engine car show to attend since the early 2000s when it started gaining more traction and visibility, including support from Mazda itself.
The event has been held at a variety of Southern California venues since its inception, from the early small meetups at Los Angeles’ Griffith Park and Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas to the growing crowds at the Mazda R&D Center and the carmaker’s corporate U.S. headquarters in Irvine, CA, during the RX-8 era, where the mighty Mazda 787B race car was displayed.
More recently, SevenStock has been held at other SoCal venues, including Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. The rotary car festival moved to Irwindale Speedway in 2023.
Attending SevenStock
A chance meeting with some of the SevenStock board members overseas spurred us to attend the annual rotary engine enthusiast event in Southern California.
We were privileged to meet the SevenStock crew at a recent Mazda event in Japan, just weeks before the next SevenStock event. So it was only fitting to finally make it out to their premier rotary engine car festival.
Traveling from Florida to California for the SevenStock 25th anniversary bash was certainly worth the trek.
The show car area of the event is largely organized by Mazda rotary car models and eras, with early Mazda rotaries from the ’70s like the RX-2, RX-3, RX-4, and REPU in their respective sections on one side of the venue, and the three generations of the Mazda RX-7 and the later RX-8 model each in their area on the other.
Highlights of SevenStock: Our Take
If you’re a fan of all things Mazda rotary like us, it might be challenging to choose highlights from an event as epic as SevenStock.
While we’re most familiar with and fond of FD RX-7s like the ones we’ve owned, the highlight of the SevenStock car show for us was seeing so many fine examples of early Mazda rotary cars and pickups – and FC RX-7 coupes – in one place.
Seeing first-gen SA and FB RX-7s, third-gen FD RX-7s, and RX-8s on local streets and at car meets back in Florida might be rare but not unheard of. The same can’t be said about even more elusive models like the Mazda RX-3 coupes/wagons and the REPU trucks on display at SevenStock.
It was also a pleasure to see both modified and stock FC RX-7 coupes well-represented alongside FC RX-7 convertibles, the latter seemingly more prevalent these days.
Whether you’re a diehard rotorhead, a fairweather follower, a JDM or classic car enthusiast, or simply intrigued by the uniqueness of Mazda’s rotary engine, SevenStock is a car show unlike any other, and worth a visit.
Visit the official SevenStock event website for more information and news on the next edition of the world’s greatest rotary engine festival.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is SevenStock?
SevenStock is a rotary engine festival celebrating the Mazda rotary engine and the cars powered by this distinctive engine. It’s billed as the largest annual gathering of rotary engine enthusiasts and rotary-powered cars in the world. The annual event has been held in Southern California since the late ’90s at various venues, including local speedways, the Mazda R&D center, and the carmaker’s U.S. HQ.
When is SevenStock?
SevenStock is held annually every fall in Southern California. Hosted by the SoCal RX Club, the event typically takes place in early November or October, depending on the year and venue availability. Visit the official SevenStock event site for full details and the date of the next annual gathering of rotorheads.
Where is the SevenStock rotary engine festival held?
SevenStock has most recently been held at Southern California racetracks like Irwindale Speedway and Auto Club Speedway. The premier rotary engine enthusiast festival has also been previously held at the Mazda R&D Center and the automaker’s U.S. headquarters in Irvine, CA. Check the official SevenStock event site for the location of its next annual gathering in SoCal.