Mount Panorama Circuit - Speed Hunting In Australia

I also got to see the company's latest product for the rotary engine, the Turbosmart billet cut rotor housing. Up until now, rotary owners have had to reuse factory Mazda housings, and with Mazda not producing them anymore, there was a need for a reliable housing that could handle 1,000+ whp, so Turbosmart rose to the challenge. One look at the housing and it's hard to imagine the process that it takes to CNC something this complicated.

Royal National Park
It was late in the afternoon when I wrapped up the day's photo shoot and decided that the nonstop rain wouldn't hold me back from experiencing Royal National Park, where I had been told the famous six-mile road running through it was full of twisties and switchbacks that any car enthusiast would appreciate. The downpour and high winds had battered the road, stray branches and leaves kept me from driving anything faster than the posted speed limit, but this road delivered in both the scenery and driving department. This is another spot I highly recommend visiting if you're ever in Australia.

PAC Performance
PAC Performance was probably the most impressive shop I visited on my trip. Owner Rocky Rehayem has been in the rotary business for more than 20 years and if you haven't guessed it, the Australians love their rotaries probably more than any other country in the world. PAC specializes in non-piston engines and the company will transplant them into any chassis you provide, as was evident by the BMW E30 and Mazda Miata builds I saw at the shop.

However, PAC's bread and butter is building older-generation Mazda drag cars. From start to finish, PAC puts together some of the cleanest and fastest rotary drag cars I've ever seen. Rocky educated me on the rotary and why it's such a good engine that's gotten a bad rap all over the world. He assured me that with the right tuning, rotaries are just as reliable as piston engines, but because people neglect to learn and fully understand how a rotary works, they make novice mistakes that cause premature engine failure. After our talk, I have a newfound respect for the rotary engine.

Haltech Engine Management
What would a visit to OZ be without a trip to the first engine management manufacturer in Australia? Haltech has been in the ECU business for more than 20 years, making it the godfather of programmable ECUs. While the company's forte has been EMS systems that need to be wired in, Haltech is now offering plug-and-play solutions for cars like the R35 GT-R and EVO X. Despite dropping in somewhat unannounced, I was still taken around the facility and got to see firsthand how its ECUs are made. It's a very delicate and precise process that, unlike hard parts, requires stringent testing to ensure every ECU leaving the building is 100 percent fully functional.