Return of Rotary Engine Confirmed by Mazda

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Will there be duct tape involved? I feel like that project needs some duct tape.

And a lot of custom parts. Actually, almost everything.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

And a lot of custom parts. Actually, almost everything.

Made of duct tape right?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Doh! Probably the reason that I had snowmobiles stuck in my head.

You could probably get a few of hem in there!

[AnalogMan]

IMHO, using a Wankel as a range extender for an EV does not make it a 'rotary' powered car. It might be in some skewed technical sense, since the Wankel is providing the power to charge the batteries. But it isn't directly providing the motive force to the wheels, and if the Wankel isn't directly connected to the road, you don't get the unique driving experience that only a rotary engine can give.

I've waxed poetically about my love for Wankels in other threads, and won't repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that if you haven't driven one yourself, you don't know what it's really like. There are a lot of armchair experts out there on the internet who will pontificate on all the weaknesses and disadvantages of a rotary engine, often without ever having actually driven one themselves.

Yes, the limitations of Wankels are well known and extensively discussed. Little torque, high oil consumption, high maintenance requirements, short engine life, poor fuel economy, and inability to meet increasingly stringent emissions requirements are all the very real reasons we will never see another truly rotary powered car again. But to the seat of my pants, there is nothing like the smooth, turbine-like sublime thrill of a Wankel spooling up and winding out to 9000 rpm, directly connecting the road into your central nervous system. It feels exotic, it feels special, and it's a unique kind of fun and passion that most reciprocating internal combustion engines will never match.

The rotary is gone, and for good reasons. And the car enthusiasts of the world are poorer off for it. Raise a glass in toast to the Mazda engineers who were the only ones with the cojones to actually bring rotary engines into mass production. Those of us who knew and loved the rotary will miss it.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You could probably get a few of hem in there!

Would also make a great bike engine. I love the idea of a kart but electric motor still wins, especially for the recreational aspect. Hell, I may have just stumbled onto my next project.

[wbradley]

Rotax is an engine with a centrifugal supercharger. Brother-in-law has a couple of Rotax powered Yamaha seadoos. They are the higher spec models, and require additional maintenance vs regular engine. Apparently HKS has supplied the blowers for the Rotax.

I drove an FB RX7 in the late 80's when I sold cars. From my perspective there is little to no advantage to the rotary. The only big thing I can think of is weight savings. And the motor warms up quickly in the winter. But, you get lousy mileage. A reciprocating engine is so much easier to get serviced anywhere and will outperform the rotary in almost every possible metric except weight. Personally, I don't get excited over 9000 RPMs if it doesn't out perform other engines. For high revving I'd take an S2000 engine over a rotary any day. The rotary would only be a novelty. Personally I wouldn't buy anything Mazda. They were the Japanese equal to Ford back in the day and I wasn't a Ford fan either. People used to come in basically saying they'd happily take a Honda or Toyota, so what can I do for them on price. I don't ever want to sell anyone their third choice ever again, can't make a living that way.
For Japanese brands, I like Toyota and Honda and the way they do business much better.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by wbradley

Rotax is an engine with a centrifugal supercharger. Brother-in-law has a couple of Rotax powered Yamaha seadoos. They are the higher spec models, and require additional maintenance vs regular engine. Apparently HKS has supplied the blowers for the Rotax.

I drove an FB RX7 in the late 80's when I sold cars. From my perspective there is little to no advantage to the rotary. The only big thing I can think of is weight savings.

Rotaxes are more helpfully characterized as direct-injected, wet sumped two strokes. Two strokes naturally need supercharging, and the crankcase isn't available for that purpose.

The Mazda 13B was not even lightweight thanks to the cast iron housings. Compact size and low vibration is what it had going for it.

An updated all-aluminum Wankel would have a very clear power density advantage over piston engines, and some tradeoffs can be made to improve fuel efficiency to approach that of a piston engine.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Rotaxes are more helpfully characterized as direct-injected, wet sumped two strokes. .

Well depends on the Rotax. The sell a wide range of engines from small 9 HP two strokes to 300HP 4 strokes used in everything from lawn equipment to aircraft.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Well depends on the Rotax. The sell a wide range of engines from small 9 HP two strokes to 300HP 4 strokes used in everything from lawn equipment to aircraft.

Ultralights!

[Legoshi]

Here before the first 13b swap.