New York City and RX-7’s. At first thought, most may think these two are completely unrelated. However, this year, on 7/7/2016, it was a new and different story. As we described in our 7’s day NYC announcement post, the celebration of the RX-7 and Rotary engines around the world has occurred for many decades, mainly in Japan and other parts of Asia. This year is the year of the Rotary Revival. It was time to celebrate the owners of rotaries and RX’7’s in our own city. Here’s how it went down.
The plan: 7’s Day NYC, Rotary Revival: TWIN LOOPS. Meet at an undisclosed location, cruise through Times Square for loop 1, regroup, and proceed to loop 2, around the south end Manhattan. For weeks, we practiced the routes, searching for locations and roads which were safe to drive through for all who attended and pedestrians alike.
Once our planning was complete, we were ready for the night as each calendar day passed leading us closer to the inevitable 7/7. The spectacle of RX7’s in Manhattan was fast approaching. The anxiety that goes hand-in-hand with the organizing started to build. Will it rain? Will the cops show up? The range and scope of worst case scenarios begin to play out in your head. After a few deep breaths, you relax and remember, this is a celebration, let’s have a good time.
The meet began at an undisclosed location that may be familiar to some. As day became night, rotary owners would continue to arrive from all over the TriState area, some as far as Boston, Philly, and Vermont, which was incredible to know. During this time, we passed out decals to commemorate the event and thank everyone for taking the time to join us for this special evening. 7’s day is very much connected to the roots of JDM culture and thus, in attendance were also a few other vehicles that represent that tuning lifestyle. Their presence was welcomed, as this is very much also a celebration of car life.
As expected, the cars were amazing. Everything from the instantly recognizable track inspired RE-Amemiya FD’s, an immaculate 20B SA22c, a rare CYM beauty, factory perfect OEM-spec models, built RX-8’s to the newly revealed REsuperG AC037. 7’s day was finally happening. The only heat was from the summer night and thankfully not the NYPD. Vibes were perfect.
Time progressed, the Times Square loop starting hour approached. I noticed there were many news helicopters hovering above the city. This tends to happen due to traffic but at this hour, it must’ve been something else…then finally I heard the news. A massive #blacklivesmatter protest had taken over Times Square. My initially crushed anxiety filled spirit transformed into a positive one as we too are supporters of this political movement.
The unpredictability of NYC strikes again. It was now a choice, what do we do? Well, the Manhattan Loop of course! Loop 2 it is! We then gathered, thanked everyone for attending, discussed the route directions and began the cruise.
If you were following our social media that night, you might’ve noticed a few posts on our official instagram and facebook account. Who doesn’t love the sound of rotaries flying through a tunnel? Captured this from Kenny Chan’s RC-F. Thanks again Kenny!
The first 7’s day in NYC and perhaps America, was a success. We’ll keep it simple, we love RX-7s and we love NYC. Putting these two together on the same day that it happens in Japan and around the world was a long time goal that has come to fruition. One of the main reasons we started PRIME was to bring people together in different methods than the norm. Enjoy cars, in person, outside and talk to each other. On this night, the people at this gathering are the true focus of the celebration. Positive vibes from start to end. Thank you, everyone.
Times Square will have to wait until 7/7/17. We invite all rotary and RX-7 owners to this event. See you there.
Special thank you out to Ted, Peter, Pravan, Siva, Jeff, Vin, Jorge and Jessica.
