Thanks for the photos Raceshooter. Excellent work needless to say!!

 

Thought I'd give you guys a little update here. We have an interview with John Doonan of Mazda on our site and he talks a bit about this project and other 2007 racing projects from Mazda.

http://www.speedarena.com/news/publi...cle_7380.shtml

 

Thanks Shooter!

 

Thanks RS, you're a great addition to the community!

Its good to know that they do hear us when we said they abandoned the rotary. I am not sure if they can add more private Mazda teams tho, probably not this year and depends a lot on how they compare to the Acuras.
________
Mariposa

 

If they can make it a viable package for the privateer, they should do ok. Remember, in the ALMS, there is a privateer cup and the factories do not win any winnings, those go to the privateer teams, so there is still an incentive to race against the likes of Acura or Porsche if you have a relatively viable package. Intersport showed their Lola and AER package did pretty well last year and if the Mazda/AER is just as reliable and quick, then it would certainly be a possible engine package for someone going to P2.

Acura will also be leaving P2 as soon as they get their cars sorted and go P1 racing, remember, that was the whole point of the P2 effort, to learn about the series and cars in order to develop their own chassis and engine for P1 from the ground up. If P2 goes well, they go to P1 sooner.

The Porsche will also become a privateer package, just like the GT3 RSR is and without the full time Porsche support and the likes of Penske running it, that will not be quite as dominant as it has shown to be.

It will be interesting to see how things play out and how well they do. I dont expect greatness off the bat, but I do expect that the Mazda/AER powerplant to be reasonably competitive and if the team can sort out the Lola chassis, they could be in for good showings.

 

Thanks for your contribution. I'm getting over the shock now and am not as bitter towards the new piston engine as I was at first. I wish they'd kept the rotary and completely disagree with their logic for getting rid of it but that's over with now. Let's see how well they can.

 

If they can run reasonably well early on it'll help mitigate the void I'll feel when the ALMS season starts. If they drop out early at Sebring that'll just magnify the disappointment. Good luck to them!!

BTW anyone know of how or where highlight footage/DVD of the 24 Heures Du Le Mans 1991 can be found. I believe there's a PAL (Euro) version DVD out but I haven't seen anything this side of the pond.

 

I have it on video but it only plays in asian format VCR

any news on the car, the race its soon!

 

I can copy any format VHS to DVD.

 

I can send it if you guys would like, make me a copy in dvd

 

How is the video quality? If it's pretty good perhaps it won't degrade too much when converted to DVD format....??? If RG can do it perhaps we could get a copy out those interested would be happy to pay for the time/hassle.

Would be a great addition to the library.

 

Its an original video, I bought it in Australia, very good quality for a VHS tape

 

there you go

http://www.pitstop.net.au/view/produ...uery/plu/5693/

if you guys decide to buy it I would really apreciate a DVD copy

 

intresting.......

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/news.html

 

hope they get enough testings done on the car to make it competitive out of the box. I doubt it tho... Will they have direct injection for sebring?

that aside, the lola is growing on me, i like how it looks. i'll see if i can get over the powerplant issue when i watch the race. nonetheless i do admit i am a lil excited about its debut, but will probably be shadowed by the Acuras..... in fact they have a 1 hr Acura LMP2 documentary this friday at 8 on speed. so rewind to last year, we STILL wont get any coverage =/
________
Live sex

 

It appears that in Mazda's RFQ (request for quote) from various outside rotary engine builders out there, no one stepped up to the plate and gave them their quote. A second one was even sent out. I'm disappointed that a company like Guru Racing didn't come through with something as I have confidence that they could have given a solution. AER gives them one that meets their needs and at the same time can showcase their (Mazda) technology so they take it. Maybe Bernie has some more information on the RFQ.

 

Im really intresting to know what companys gave them quotes if any one, but then againg who has the expirience to do a proyect like this?

Im sure Guru could have offer a 4 rotor engine, but coul it hold on for 24 hrs?

Another thing is that the engine builder has to go on tour with the team to give then suport, not a lot of people are willing to do that

 

I'm trying to verify information on the Rotary RFQ, and if it indeed did go out to vendors, and if it did, was it retracted fairly quick. I'm not privy to which vendors recieved the Rotary RFQ, if any, but I did request information though.

On the race car; one chassis is shipping stateside tomorrow, and the race car should be leaving the UK on Sunday, after shakedowns. There will not be much testing done before Sebring, but the team is working hard.

From my information the new race engines have turned out extremely light and compact.


-Bern

 

you know what would be great? If mazda takes the old courage chassis and send it to some one like Downing, Rick and Paul, to fit a Guru 4 rotor engine and test it to see what they can do

 

No... it sounds good, but this would be committing the same sins of the past, and unfairly saddling the RE again... if they gave a top team a state-of-the-art chassis and let them rip, then ok, but to go back to the courage, would be a huge mistake.


-Bern

 

I meant for research purposes, to test the Guru 4 rotor in endurance configuration, not to race a season

 

RC, I understood. I just think that even testing in a old chassis config would not do much... things like air-flow into raditors, coolers, etc... would not translate well into another chassis. just my humble opinion, not trying to get off base here. I respect what you're saying though

-Bern

 

I agree, I just want to see if the engine can hold up to the challenge of endurance racing, just throwing ideas out there

 

Are the four rotors still allowed?

 

yes, at least it was in 2002