On a cold, wet, grey winters day, nothing warms the blood faster than getting up close to a modded masterpiece. So despite the crappy weather we headed down to Barrow to meet Lee (aka Phaz on our forum) and his modded RX7. We had heard good things about the car, and things sounded even better when the air was filled with the deep rumble of a Mazda rotary engine exhaling through a Blitz exhaust. Things hotted up even more when Cruise Babe Napa turned up to add a little bit of spice to the shoot; remember lads, there is actually a car in every picture!. With an extensive spec list there is plenty to look at on the car. If you think the car looks good in these pics, it's pure automotive porn in real life. The combination of power, styling and ICE makes for a perfect balance; the car is as fast as it looks and has enough ICE power to match its horsepower.

The first thing you notice about the car is the Veilside body kit. It's genuine Veilside and it shows. RX7's look pretty good standard, but as you can see with the right kit they look awesome.

The spoiler also grabs your attention, it's a Rotora full carbon fibre GT wing, specifically made to suite the curves of the RX7.

Carbon fibre is not just limited to the spoiler, the car has RE full carbon fibre side mirrors and carbon fibre door handles (though the covers blew off at high speed!)

The C-West head lights are also carbon fibre, and so are the PIAA wipers. To improve visibility the headlights have H3 xenon bulbs and the sidelights are ultra bright LEDs. The car retains its original JDM 99 spec bumper lights, but has C-West fog lights that are apparently the smallest in the world!

The carbon theme continues inside the car, with the full interior trim done out in carbon fibre and a carbon fibre gear and hand brake gaiter. The dials have been replaced by Mazda speed dials and the A post pillar pod has a GReddy boost gauge, oil temperature gauge and water temperature gauge. A Blitz dual turbo timer, RE short throw shifter, Efini neon glow gear nob and Momo steering wheel with thumb rests mean the driver is always in control. The extra box below the stereo is the display for latest version of Race-Logic traction control with launch control, full throttle shift and separate wet and dry settings.

Looks pretty comfortable in there to me!

You can see why the car needs traction control when you look under the bonnet. The 2.6l twin sequential turbo Mazda twin rotor engine has been beefed up from 276 to 397BHP. The extra power mainly comes from raisng the boost to 1.0 bar, but the car also has an Apexi power FC stand alone ECU, Bosch 300 l/hr fuel pump, HKS down pipe, straight through TRUST stainless steel mid pipe, Blitz NUR-SPEC stainless cat back exhaust, a GReddy ported throttle elbow and the Blitz Sus Power dual induction kit. The combination of mesh induction kit, a straight through mid section in the exhaust and an Apexi dump valve means the car makes an awesome sound no matter where your foot is on the throttle.

A Koyo full aluminium radiator and Blitz front mounted intercooler help cool the engine and the inlet charge.

And to keep the electricity flowing, RE ignition leads connect up the HKS 11 heat range spark plugs. The battery  is a dry Stinger 1000 and good earthing is maintained through an Apexi voltage stabiliser earthing kit. An HKS oil catch tank has also been fitted.

All the power has to go through a set of Kahn 3 piece split 19" rims and Eagle F1 tyres. The wheel spokes have been blackened with satin metallic black for the ultimate aggressive look. For stopping power the discs are drilled and slotted Brembos, with SSS ceramic front pads and Red Stuff rears. The original callipers are retained, but brake feel is improved by the Blitz stainless steel brake lines fitted to the front and rear.

Tein coilovers with height and ride adjust keep the car scraping the tarmac.

The Pioneer DEX-P9R head unit up front powers two Pioneer PRS-X340 amplifiers housed in the customised boot build with a TS-W12PRS 12" sub. It also powers the front Pioneer TS-M7PRS yellow cones and the Pioneer TS-T3PRS tweeters.

The car also has a Pioneer CDX-P1270 12 CD changer and a Pioneer DEQ-P90 digital sound processor with 32 band equalizer.

Lee seems pretty happy with the car, in fact he thinks its pimpin!