THE BEGINING OF BLACKSTAR

Josh's love for Mazda's started at 10 years old when he got into racing games, he fell in love with the Mazda RX-7 FD which he choose to race every chance he got to play on the console he shared with his siblings.

Josh found his love for mechanics during a work experience week at Volvo during his last year of High School in Bedford. After completing his GCSE's at 16 years old he made the decision to move to Essex to pursue an apprenticeship with Mazda. 

 

He made the move to Yorkshire in 2014 for love and found himself at a Mazda repair centre in Wakefield. Disappointed as he never got to work on rotaries as nobody takes their cars out of warranty back to main dealers for work but he knew one day he would find a way to work with rotaries. In 2015 he purchased his first RX-8, a 2004 Winning Blue 231, the RX-8 was much easier to ascertain on a technicians wage, by no means is any rotary cheap though... the engine was blown... so time to try rebuild it himself with a little help from YouTube. During this time he met Ben from Rotary Revs at a meet, they became friends and Ben inspired Josh. A few months later the engine was rebuilt, then the worst happened... it popped again, at the time he had no idea what had gone wrong but he didn't give up, out came the engine again, but this time Ben offered to help. The RX-8 was running... but not for long... the engine failed once more. For the third time the engine came out and this time they found the problem - the internal oil pump was overlooked, and had been far out of useable spec likely since the first rebuild. Josh rebuilt the engine after replacing the oil pump, and the build survived!

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Ben saw Josh's potential, so he offered Josh a position at Rotary Revs. His dream became a reality and he started his work rebuilding RX-8 engines.

At Rotary Revs is when he first set eyes on an RX-7 FD in the flesh, it was time to sit in his dream car, sadly he soon realised he was too tall to be able to own one, and felt the car on a whole, was underwhelming in all aspects other than extra power. It was time to redirect his dream to RX-8's and experiment with power, so others saw RX-8's as not just the little bother of the RX-7 but as an equal opponent, and worthy successor.

Along the way, his passion, knowledge and skillset further developed. He was becoming well versed in the world of RX-8's. Working out the quirks of the Renesis, finding a deeper understanding of how the engine works, and why Mazda created it to operate in the way that it did. As time went on, it became clear that a lot of the knowledge that circulated within the community was false. But Josh was open to his findings with like-minded owners, existing customers, and curious potential RX-8 buyers. Over the years, the RX-8 gained more popularity, despite rapidly declining numbers of roadworthy cars.

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A few years later during the epidemic, Josh left Rotary Revs due to a shift in their targeted market, and ultimately a rebrand that didn't align with his long term vision. Not knowing what he wanted to do next, he left the trade for a whole three months and worked in a warehouse, quickly realising he hadn't fallen out of love with working on cars. Continuing to fuel his passion for the automotive world, made his way to Crisp Tuning, a locally well known JDM powerhouse in Wakefield. Whilst they didn't reciprocate the love for Rotaries that Josh did, getting experience with many other brands and models such as Toyota Supras, Nissan Skylines and other classic Japanese vehicles. The knowledge was invaluable, and helped him to understand many other things of various vehicles. Call it a 'crash course' in learning, which served as a nice refresh and helped to form new good mental habits for troubleshooting. Although the experience was great, Josh had a Rotary itch to scratch which was ignored for far too long...

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Around a year later, a friend introduced Josh to the man that changed it all! He had a dream of his own and saw Josh's passion for Rotaries. Having needed someone to work on his own RX-7 FD they quickly became friends. After seeing Josh in action and his keen eye for details, he offered Josh the project of a lifetime; to quit working for other people and to start his own business.

And thus... Blackstar was born! Rotaries were back on the menu for good, and much to his surprise, previous customers from Rotary Revs had been searching for him. All Josh had to do was pick up his tools, and resume reciprocating that enthusiasm for all things spinning dorito. 

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Steady growth, progressive developments, and engaging prospects particularly for the world of RX-8s, are the staple for Blackstar. Josh aims to be the pioneer for the UK, bringing only good to the market to keep the excitement for Mazda's best underdog alive.

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