I just saw this article linked from Autoblog. It talks about how Valeo is developing electromechanical valves which would allow a "traditional" gas engine to go camless. It seems to me like this would be a great idea for Mazda to work into a future version of the rotary. I may be wrong but I believe one of the major reasons for the low gas mileage is that the exhaust ports are always open and unburned fuel escapes. If this type of valve could be adapted to the exhaust ports on the rotary, so that they only open after combustion, wouldn't gas mileage go way up? Seems like a good way to get mileage closer to a regular engine while maintaining the high revving character and high power to weight ratio that makes the rotary so much fun.

I'm not an engine expert, so I might be wrong about whether this would even work. What do you guys think?

 

Mazda's so far ahead of time, the Renesis is already camless!!

 

The nice thing about a cam less system is that you can infinitely adjust lift and timing to always be perfect for where your engine is running. That is a huge help on mileage, emissions, and average power. What's even nicer is that this type of system can be configured so that the valves themselves act as the throttlebody and only open as far as they need to in order to keep the engine running where it needs to. Not sure if this one is doing that but BMW is doing something similar. This is definitely the future of piston engine technology.

 

yeah the new BMW 3 idles at arond 500, its crazy....so quiet.

 

your are wrong- read up on what makes the renesis different from previous rotaries