Front-mid engine, not mid engine.

 

I would call it the RX-7 evolved. It was a good platform, now it's better and more competitive against the 300+ factory HP cars that have been coming out in recent years.

BTW looks like the teaser picture was taken in Monterrey's Laguna Seca aka Mazda Raceway.

 

MODS, please change the first post to show this pic instead of the smaller version. and delete this post.

 

I don't think so, the 20b car was on podium multiple times.

Mazda's return to top-tier sports car competition is only two years young, but has already produced impressive results. Following a Mazda sports car competition heritage that includes the only overall 24 Hours of Le Mans victory by a Japanese team (1991, Mazda 787B) to date, the Mazda Renesis rotary-powered B-K Motorsports Courage entered into American Le Mans Series P2 Category competition in 2005 with rookies and Star Mazda series graduates Guy Cosmo and Jamie Bach sharing driving duties.

The combination of Mazda rotary power and talented drivers proved an instant success as the team debuted to a second place finish and went on to eight additional podium finishes, including one victory, en route to a third place championship finish. The performance netted Cosmo and Bach Co-Rookie of the Year honors from the series.

In 2006, increased competition in the category provided additional challenges to the young team. Nevertheless, the team again finished the championship in third place.

 

"But be sure to check out the March issue of Road & Track where we share more in-depth details of this intriguing concept and take you inside the car for some hot laps with professional ALMS driver Jamie Bach." http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=6268

"Unfortunately due to embargo restrictions, we are only allowed to show you this one image of Mazda's latest concept creation which is set to make its North American debut in January at the Detroit Auto Show." R&T

 

Department of Transportation (DOT) has banned automakers from the use of pop-up headlights so you can kiss that RX7 tradition goodbye. To me it's more important that the next RX-7 has a killer rotary under the bonnet. Either a 3 rotor NA or the 16X with boost would do it for me.

As a harcore rotorhead, I'm just happy to see that MAZDA is still committed to the rotary engine. What would be even cooler than a new kick *** RX7 would be a super car like this coming out first, then have some of that technology trickle down into a new RX-7. Maybe Mazda can further develop the hydrogen rotary and return to it's old roots when they had a whole fleet of rotary vehicles.

BTW: I think I remember ready that the hydrogen Rotary MRV used a Renesis in FWD layout.

 

Racecar Engineering did a few articles on their LMP2 effort, basically there wasn't much competition the first year, and overall there weren't that many serious teams later on either, so 3rd in the championships isn't that great. They were much slower than the Porsches that came out in 2006 and are dominating everything including the Audi R10's and everything else in LMP1.

The rotary and the timeframe of development forced them to use the LMP1 rear end and transmission, which is heavier (they were something like 200kg overweight), then they had problems making sufficient power, then they had the cooling problems that made them have to add louvers and openings which added drag. Basically it was seriously compromised from the start and died when some real competition came along.

 

I hope new pics surface before the Detroit Auto Show. The suspense.....

 

A W E S O M E. Period.

 

I remember reading that the 05 car weighed in at 780kg and the Porsches were 770kg...just can't imagine them fielding a +200kg car.

I'v heard that they did develop a newer version of a chassis made to house a 4 rotor but as soon as Mr.Audi came in chiming along w/ the cosworth mzr motor it was all never to be. I know this for a bit more than a rumor because during the limerock race I had spoken to a few of the team about the 4rotor and they said as soon as the chassis development is done to house it they will get the "ok" to run. I understand why they picked the lola/mzr combo I just don't understand why they HAD to drop 4rotor attempt. Oh well I'll still be rooting for them next season.

 

Grabbed the article, they were 275lbs overweight. They had sent out an RFQ for an all aluminum, turbo, direct injected 20B engine, but no one answered. No mention of a 4 rotor in there.

Basically Mazda talks up their rotary efforts to try and salvage something from the expendatures, but as a racing effort it failed. They were way behind Porsche in the points and lost out to a privateer team in the 2006 season, not exactly a rousing success.

With the MS3, MS6 and the MX-5 they now have another engine that's viable from a marketing standpoint, would make the power require and they were able to use it without the compromises made in order to use the rotary, so they did.

 

Think Mazda's trying to get into "supercars" like Toyota is with the new supra or the 09 Nissan GTR?

I say "supercars" cause they aren't really a supercar like a Lambo but they much more than a sportscar.

 

that certainly was my first thought

 

you also have to remember that Mazda and Mazda Comp are two different entities last time I checked. Can anyone verify this?

 

we'll see. Jan 14th is the day we get the new 3 rotor.

 

looks good, i think mazda should pull off a 3 rotor n/a, mid engine, elise style supercar, with untouchable handling. yet bigger then the elise, weighing around 2500lbs with a 400hp engine that is reliable. and put it somewhere in the 50k range. i think they would sell good and label it as a supercar like the gt-r is doing. from the pic, the first thought that came to my mind was a lotus elise on steroids.

 

better, an EXIGE is what popped in my head. Plus, i'm not sure if you read the press release earlier this week about the expansion of their test track in Mine City.

So if they do make a car that BLURS the line between track car and street car then I hope it makes it into production.

 

Can't wait til we get more pics, I hope it looks as good as they're making it out to be and not like most of the shitty concepts they've made.

 

January 08, Detroit. we all know www.rotarynews.com will be there .

 

They finished 2006 3rd in Points ... thats good for an overweight and underpowered car

 

Just looked up the results, 3rd out of 4, and the 4th place team only did one race. To be fair the Mazda/Courage team missed 5 races due to a crash, which was unfortunate because I missed seeing them at Portland.

Looking at the manufacturer's points, Porsche had 200, Lola had 169, Mazda had 69, Radical had 11.

For engines, it's Porsche at 200, AER at 166, Mazda at 67, Zytek and Judd at 19 each.

Teams it was Penske (Porsche) at 200, Intersport (Lola/AER) at 166, B-K Motorsprots (Mazda) at 67.

http://www.imsaracing.net/2006/point...nts%20ALMS.pdf

So you see they got their butts kicked.

 

Damn good link!!

Penske is a bulletproof team! I wonder what their operating expenses are per yr to run that program...must be 10x the mazda

 

Yea, when they're beating Audi with the "slower" class car and winning races outright they're doing something right. I'd agree, they probably have a much larger budget and are more of a factory team, whereas the Mazda team is more of a privateer effort with some factory backing.

 

 

From Mazda, a 450 HP Rotary Powered Production Car Sounds Good To Me