4-Rotor powered supercar in the works.

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Dave,

I'm a big fan of Mazda, I was lucky enough to be at Le Mans in 1991 when that beautiful green & orange car won.

One thing though, the sound I remember, very, very loud and not in a good way. Have they worked out a way to make these things sound better?
 
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Oh Kwap....
Jim now don't get Dave all suicidal, he LOVES the way these thing sound! And um, so do I. I just don't think I could listen to one for very long without hearing damage :p
 
I owned a heavily moded 3rd Gen and sold it to put $ toward the GT 40 I now have. The rotary is a unique engine to say the least and they can be made to do some fantastic numbers. With the twin turbo's and some other mods I was pushing @ 400HP from an engine the size of a beer keg. The sound can be a bit "very angry bees in a can" ish as a 2 rotor but a 3 rotor is breathtaking. It sounds somewhere between a F-Car and a Lambo. A four.....beyond belief. Thirsty though.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
One thing though, the sound I remember, very, very loud and not in a good way. Have thay worked out a way to make these things sound better?

No. I race with NA 13Bs each race weekend and they sound horrible. I think they sound much better turbocharged as the harshness is smoothed out.

That proposed car, well, it doesn't look so good.
 

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Oh Kwap....
Jim now don't get Dave all suicidal, he LOVES the way these thing sound! And um, so do I. I just don't think I could listen to one for very long without hearing damage :p<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Mesa, try it for 24 hours.....................! Are you going to Santana this Sat?
 
Single rotor - not sure. Was the Suzuki bike (RE500 I think) a single rotor? If so I just remember it sounding smooth.

Twin rotor sound - awful,

Triple rotor sound - not quite as bad but still awful,

Quad rotor sound (Have only heard two different cars on video, never live) - awesome!

Car looks ok to me.

Agree on the turbo' thing, makes them slightly more tolerable.

Tim.
 
Just to keep the juices flowing, we may be down under but if you count the bits / coils etc you will see that we have been building 4 rotor mota`s for some time, The sound almost makes an F1 engines seem of song and the power is legend. This guy actually sends engines to a team in the Bahama`s and the engineer is one of Aucklands top motor engineers.
Cheers
 

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LOL, reminds of a mechanic who told me he was looking into camshafts for a rotary - true story - really.
Mind you, against some of the mechanics I've dealt with in the last few years the guy was a genius.

Tim.
 
Isn't it true there are only 3 moving parts in the rotary engine? And I have to disagree with Roaldin (sorry mate) on the sound of a three rotor. The ones I've heard were spectacular. I guess its a matter of taste.
 
One thing though, the sound I remember, very, very loud and not in a good way. Have they worked out a way to make these things sound better?
Just like anything of this nature, 10 people, ten different opinions. I've heard the 787b on several occasions in southern Cal and once running laps in anger at Laguna Seca. I thought it sounded fantastic. Loud? Oh hell yeah. Also heard a surprisingly subdued 12a based four rotor in a 3rd gen about 10 years ago along with the Mazda 792, and a few other four rotor based race cars. They are becoming more popular and seem to be where three rotors were 10 years ago.

That said, the 787b or any other 4-rotor car most have heard are race cars, not street cars. Most are peripheral ported engines rather than side ports which will make them louder, not to mention the lack of proper mufflers and catalytic converters. I'm pretty sure this proposed car would run side ports for multiple reasons, one of them being sound related, the others all drivability related. The designers could even be using the newer Renesis side housing with the side exhaust ports which would further reduce the noise, even if just a little.

No. I race with NA 13Bs each race weekend and they sound horrible. I think they sound much better turbocharged as the harshness is smoothed out.
I like the way the n/a's sound but I do agree, they do sound better turbocharged for the reason you mentioned. Have you heard the newer Star Mazdas with the n/a Renesis engines? I think they sound f'ing great.

That proposed car, well, it doesn't look so good.
The proposed car in the photos is nothing more than an altered rendering of the Ferrari 599x so I'm sure the final version, if there ever is one, will be different.
 
Well, i expect two things from this. 1: Blown apex seals. 2: about 1 mile per gallon.


I don't think this thing is going to pass emissions here in the states. Maybe it doesn't run on gas?
 
My son put a turboed 13B in his RX7 and the turbo certainly sounded better than the straight rotary. Very thirsty though, and the high pressure fuel pump was noisy (in the car) as well. A couple of pics of the old failed rotary:
 

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I had a 72 R100 for about 8 months. It had bout 70,000 miles on it and eight core swaps. The clutch let go so I scraped it. Those were the days Mazda were looking for the proper material for the apex seals. They just kept changing the cutomers engines. The body was not all that great and the price for the clutch was more than what I paid for the car.
I had a friend had a red 61 NSU sedan and it was rotory. All it did back then was sit in the driveway and rust. I don't think he could get parts for it. They have come a long way.
Dave
 
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