justcause Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Tokyo – Mazda will stop making cars with its signature rotary engines after a 45-year production run that included powering the first and only Japanese car to win the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race. Poor sales and the high costs of meeting modern emissions standards have made rotary engines uneconomical to produce. Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday that the latest edition of the Mazda RX-8 will go on sale Nov. 24, targeting sales of 1,000 vehicles, but will end production in June 2012. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/10/07/mazda-kills-rotary-engine/#ixzz1a6jnQeMX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 COLLECTOR'S ITEM!!!! *Searches Carmax and AutoTrader for used RX-8's* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Das Borgen Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 the 1991 787B win was only possible because of other cars breaking. Although the 787B won it was NOT the fastest car there by any stretch of the imagination and they had no illusions of winning....the fastest 787B only qualified 12th in '91 but at the end of the day, winning is winning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC66Bronco Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 the 1991 787B win was only possible because of other cars breaking. Although the 787B won it was NOT the fastest car there by any stretch of the imagination and they had no illusions of winning....the fastest 787B only qualified 12th in '91 but at the end of the day, winning is winning "by an inch or a mile" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 COLLECTOR'S ITEM!!!! *Searches Carmax and AutoTrader for used RX-8's* I have a Pearl White RX8 at work right Meow.:gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 I have a Pearl White RX8 at work right Meow.:gabe: did you just meow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewhop Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 did you just meow? Meow let me tell you something about those doritos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 the 1991 787B win was only possible because of other cars breaking. Although the 787B won it was NOT the fastest car there by any stretch of the imagination... Historically hasn't that been the case with most of the 24hrs of LeMans races? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 COLLECTOR'S ITEM!!!! *Searches Carmax and AutoTrader for used RX-8's* That turd of a car will never be a collectors item. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinHawk1647545499 Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 yeah, its about time, though i think they should still produce them, just without an engine and transmission so you can swap an ls1 in it..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrsplat Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 yeah, its about time, though i think they should still produce them, just without an engine and transmission so you can swap a 2jz in it :masturboy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritas Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 :| Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 the 1991 787B win was only possible because of other cars breaking. Although the 787B won it was NOT the fastest car there by any stretch of the imagination and they had no illusions of winning....the fastest 787B only qualified 12th in '91 but at the end of the day, winning is winning Endurance racing is about, you know, endurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Endurance racing is about, you know, endurance. :lolguy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossle Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Endurance racing is about, you know, endurance. Lol +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Non turbo rotary engines are HORRIBLE at endurance racing. The only usable engine for any type of racing is a GM LSx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Apex Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Endurance racing is about, you know, endurance. QFT!! Why doesn't mazda keep the car going with the 2.3t motor from the ms3?? It seems to be a good little engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig71188 Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Non turbo rotary engines are HORRIBLE at endurance racing. The only usable engine for any type of racing is a GM LSx. In the late '70's when Mazda first started racing the RX-7 in IMSA GTU, they brought engines by the dozen to the races. Run a practice session, change an engine. Qualify, change an engine (of course they were turning something like 14K rpm in those sessions). Start the race with a fresh engine and cut WAY BACK on the rpm's and hope to finish. At one point we asked a very japanese engineer how they made the rotary engines so fast (and they were - just not real reliable) - he said "port till it leaks, seal up leak, run engine"! Eventually they got better apex seals and more reliability - but it was always a balance of how hard you could rev them (more RPM meant more power) vs. how long they would last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 In the late '70's when Mazda first started racing the RX-7 in IMSA GTU, they brought engines by the dozen to the races. Run a practice session, change an engine. Qualify, change an engine (of course they were turning something like 14K rpm in those sessions). Start the race with a fresh engine and cut WAY BACK on the rpm's and hope to finish. At one point we asked a very japanese engineer how they made the rotary engines so fast (and they were - just not real reliable) - he said "port till it leaks, seal up leak, run engine"! Eventually they got better apex seals and more reliability - but it was always a balance of how hard you could rev them (more RPM meant more power) vs. how long they would last. They seem to have figured a lot out since then. The 3-rotor motors they currently use in Grand-Am/Rolex have pretty long intervals between rebuilds. It's a shame to see them drop the rotary completely. The rx-8 never really lived up to the hype for me. There were always quips that direct injection would save the rotary while making more power and helping with emissions, but I guess it wasn't to be. Hell, they even made an all aluminum prototype 16x engine a few years back. Guess it didn't work as good as it looked. I had always hoped that they could build an all aluminum 3 rotor sports car, but alas, I'll just have to save up tons of cash to do it to mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Non turbo rotary engines are HORRIBLE at endurance racing. The only usable engine for any type of racing is a GM LSx. LSJ ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Apex Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Adam is being sarcastic. Props to mazda for trying to make it work for as long as they did, they'll be fine as long as they keep building cars with a soul like the miata and ms3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yasser-Hanbali Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 recent news release states that Mazda will keep working on the Rotary design, but a production car that it will go into is no where in sight. its a sad thing to see the Rotary go out of production, i honestly believe that if auto makers would have been able to put it into production it would have been a truly great engine (damn 1970's oil crisis) as a race engine they can be made to truly take the abuses of racing the 1991 LeMans race proved that. N/A rotaries can take abuse and run for many years and laps with no issues, the 787B was making over 600HP and lasted 24 hours and won and Mazda also stated when they took apart the engine to look for any damage it was in perfect shape and had enough left in it to run another 24 hour race if needed. we all know race engines are not designed to last, but rather make mass amounts of power and win races even if that means rebuilding for every race in a series. just look at top fuel dragsters they are piston powered and those motors last maybe an event before being stripped down and rebuilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 No one saw my sarcasm but Ben <--- Notice anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Apex Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 No one saw my sarcasm but Ben <--- Notice anything? I notice that motor like most doritos is not installed and thus not running!(Sorry, had to take my stab, waiting on litany of 14 sec slow mustang jokes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 (edited) I read all these rotory engine stabs, and I think to myself, I'm pretty sure Carl, Yasser, Chris(FD), Chris(FC), Kevin, and myself have all had our cars up and running for a few years now. Unless one does a change in a build/set up, I'm pretty sure these have all been running with no blown Apex seals or major issues. Though, I have noticed several posts from V8 owners whos cars are down. It happens. I get it. Edited October 11, 2011 by Mojoe fat fingered the hell out of the keyboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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