Held in partnership with the Concours of Elegance, RM Sotheby’s annual London event has been one of the most successful sales on the European collector car calendar since 2007. Each year, the event gathers cars from prominent collectors and enthusiasts, offering a diversified selection of automobiles, from imposing Edwardians to modern-era supercars. Surely one of the highlights of this year’s edition is the Group B Mazda RX-7 Evo.
Created under the guidance of Achim Warmbold the RX-7 Evo constituted Mazda’s contribution to the “Golden Years” of the Group B Rally Championship between 1983 and 1987. Warmbold and his team were initially obligated to build 20 examples of the Mazda RX-7 for Group B homologation. However, with the unexpected demise of Group B in 1987, only seven of the original 20 were completed, with the remainder consisting of parts or spares.
Shown here is the MRTE 019 chassis built in 1985. Unlike other examples, the MRTE 019 is unique, as it never used. Initially kept in the Mazda Racing Team Europe’s facility in Belgium after Group B’s demise, it was acquired as part of a larger lot of RX-7 chassis and spares by the Swiss Mazda Importer in the early 1990s. Having been displayed in Switzerland for years, the car then re-entered automotive obscurity as part of a private collection before making its way into its current owner’s possession, albeit via a period in Scandinavia.
To ensure that every detail is correct, its present owner commissioned a six-month investigative ‘light-touch’ restoration, not only returning the car to original factory condition but also to exact Works specification. According to RM Sotheby’s, the MRTE 019 is the only original Mazda RX-7 Group B rally car in existence, and perhaps the only unused Group B car left.
The 1985 Mazda RX-7 Evo Group B will go to auction at the London event on September 6, 2017.
