I would rather Mazda just back Downing Atlanta once again. Jim still races. Not the Kudzu. But he still has a 4 rotor powered WR. Last year he finished 3rd in class in LMP 675 at Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta.

I'd Love to see Downing on top again.

Mike

 

mazda shoudl have came out with the 3 rotor in rx8
its only natural

 

honda is in f1.
toyota is in f1, and nastruck.
mazda has has starmazda...no one likes to be left behind....

 

Doesn't the position of the ports in the renisis more or less the negate the possibility of a 3 rotor?

 

why would it? Its just an exhaust thats just like the intake of a 20B.

 

nissan has gone nowhere ?

 

Not quite. They failed miserably during a 7 or so year stint with the IRL. They now supply spec engines for the Infiniti Pro Series. I would guess parent company Renault doesn't want the financial burden of supporting two teams in F1.

 

On a related note on a smaller scale, NISSAN's SE-R SPEED World Challenge Touring Car is doing quite well.

http://www.nissan-dakar.com/EN/NEWS/PRESS/040721.html

 

When I said ealier that coming to a happy medium between the established and new booty would be difficult.. well... it's already happening. Current Autoweek has another article about a 4-door class. Long time racer and team owner Alex Job has his panties in a bunch. Long story short he thinks this would actually degrade the ALMS and that 4 doors are inferior(not exact wording but close enough). Maybe he's afraid of another make beating him on the track We should hear lot's more talk in the coming months..

 

From Autoweek. Good News.

Mazda back to Le Mans?

Prodrive Engineering in Britain is gearing up to take Japanese automaker Mazda back to the Le Mans 24 Hour 13 years after it won the French endurance classic. The race and rally specialist that runs Subaru’s World Rally Championship campaign admitted it is working on a prototype for a major manufacturer. Word now comes that it is Mazda. Prodrive officials refuse to reveal the carmaker’s identity, but sources say it is the Japanese marque. What isn’t clear: whether Mazda is interested in the prototype division, or if Prodrive’s study encompasses the GT classes for road-based cars.

 

there have been rumours about this prodrive/mazda link for about a year or longer overhere in Europe. We can't say if this is true or not untill someone officially says yes or no.
As for the out-banning of the rotary engine in Le Mans: after the '91 season all engines for WSC had to be 3.5l piston engines (Formula one engines of those days) the rules created by the FIA were the end of WSC, and they knew they'd be...
Since then LM has been making it's own rules again, and rotaries are allowed again (see AutoExe last year)

 

And the FIA, ACO and ALMS collaborate on the rules that govern LeMans and their various series. So the days of one set of rules on this side of the pond and the other are mostly a thing of the past.

 

I'm hearing that Roger Mandeville is up to no god !! If you see what I mean. (In a god way)
I'm hearing some think about Daytona DP and a 3 or 4 rotors. Don’t if it is true but "Me like it”.
I actually talk to him this week, and their are very busy lately. Whta's up..

 

I would be very surprised to see a rotary in a Daytona prototype. If Roger can talk the roundy-round boys to let him come play - then that would kick ***.

-billy

 

What a great time for a new RX-7 (9?). ALMS GT, World Challenge GT, Rolex series; it could race everywhere. Please-oh-please-oh-please.

 

Well that KUDZU body is way off from Ferrarri and Toyota etc. Mazda issued Downing the Renisis when they first got them so they could R&D. The PP with variable length intake is the most HP your gonna get unless you start boosting the rotary. I want MAZDA back in racing in a badway.

 

I thought we would've seen more of the Pettit GT3 racer than we have. I dont know what the engine rules are regarding rotaries these days. Change the damn rules if necessary.

NASCAR is a spec-racing series and can never be taken seriously. Same goes for IRL, Trans-Am, CART, Grand AM (owned by NASCAR), and NHRA. Only SPEED WC, ALMS, JGTC, and F1 (for the moment) allow technology into their playbooks.

I want to see a competitive RX8 or a 7-series 9 get to WC and/or LeMans. And I want to see them get airtime on the sorry-assed race-coverage of WC (owned by FOX - can't take them too seriously, either - must be that France family "influence").

Go Wankel, go.

 

it is nice to watch the rx 8 in the rolex series. if they are given time and money they will be competa tive.