The new issue of Sports Car International (Nov '07) has a great piece about Mazda and the rotary engine—"Past, Present, Future"—by Dan Carney. The article talks about how Mazda has always proudly identified itself with the rotary engine, and continues to do so. It then goes on to talk about the RX-8—here's an excerpt:

But customers have been puzzled by the RX-8, with its humpbacked styling and rear-hinged mini-doors for access to the back seat, and sales volumes have never grown to the level where the future of the rotary would seem secure. "In terms of volume, the RX-8 is marginal," conceded (Jay) Amestoy (Mazda's VP of Public Affairs).

Yet today the company promises that come what may, Mazda will not abandon its signature engine design. "The rotary is going to stay alive and well as the heartbeat of Mazda," promised Jim O'Sullivan, President and CEO of Mazda Motors North America. Sports-car enthusiasts pine for a return of the two-seat RX-7, built this time with today's cleaner, more cost-effective, non-turbocharged Renesis engine and potentially sharing suspension components with the MX-5. Mazda won't comment on the likelihood of that scenario playing out, but enthusiasts will like Mazda's next rotary model, assured Amestoy. "It will be a sporty application," he revealed. Whether that is the true sports car the faithful await remains to be seen.

Ironically, the same factors of fuel economy and emission control that nearly killed the rotary engine in the '70s may contribute to its future success. While engineers the world over seek ways to employ alternative clean fuels, the rotary enjoys a little-known benefit: "The rotary engine is the only one you can run on hydrogen and gasoline without doing anything to it," pointed out O'Sullivan. Rotary engines will even run on kerosene, positioning them to potentially use biodiesel fuel.

 

grrrreat

now where is that turbocharger of mine? like seriously

 

this is some great news. thanks for sharing!

 

Diesel Rotary!!!!
I wish I had an extra billion dollars lying around to give to Mazda for Rotary engineering.

 

ok heres the one thinking outside the box.if the 8 can burn flexfuel i would think if they bumped up the spark,changed the timng a little,redo the intake a little more this car could haul *** w/300whp and a 21-34 mpg!but this is outside the box and might **** off a few here and there making there money off the gas guz tax and such.i love my car the way it is but if they pull some hp out of it and some more mpg?hell i would pay a little more for that kind of wish come true!would you not?

 

it'll be weird when our cars start getting called 1st Gen RX-8's.

 

"It will be a sporty application." ??

I guess like the RX8, it's not going to be a sports car.


[runs away]

 

1st gen rx-8 does sound a bit strange

 

I don't know about outside of the box. But since alternative fuels typically have less BTUs, your thoughts of 300whp and 21-34mpg are straight out of fantasy land.

 

I would'nt count my chicks before they hatch . We will have to wait and see. done.

 

so how do i replace the gas tank with hydrogen tanks?

and can you still turbo it, if it were to run on hydrogen? i bet there are some 3k or so tax breaks to hydrogen cars. pays for the turbo!

 

lol

 

Mazda did already come up with the hydrogen renesis design, just search for it and it would give you a basic idea of what they'd do to convert it to hydrogen.

 

I'm really intrigued by the hydrogen aspect. But the large problem remains, how to store significant amounts of hydrogen safely. It can't come from a tank, it'll have to be created on-demand from other materials/chemicals...

 

interesting and a little hopeful

 

I'd love a hydrogen powered RX8.

I believe we actually have materials that can be used for the storage of hydrogen. I've read that some metal can be cooled and saturated with hydrogen, and it stays stable and safely contained in the metal until you heat it up, which causes the hydrogen to be released.

Hydrogen isn't as dangerous as everyone seems to think. yeah, it can cause a pretty bad fire, and sometimes a tank can explode. but really, doesn't gasoline have the exact same problems, with the added danger of how a liquid can splash on you and continue to burn in a manner a gas cannot?

The real problem with hydrogen is there's no good way to produce it in mass quantities. If we could make hydrogen at 5 cents a cubic foot, I'm sure we'd be using it, even without an entirely safe storage system.

 

couldn't agree more

 

Gas will burn like crazy, but it's not very explosive in our minimally pressurized tanks..

Take a look at this video and tell me if you'd feel safe having this 4 feet behind your head..

Propane Tank on a rope

 

Many forklifts and taxi's already run on propane. It's completely street legal to run on propane. Ever see a vehicle with a CNG sticker on it? thats propane.

 

why does everyone scream 'WHERES THE TURBO??"

this is a valid future project of our engine, it turns out it will greatly help the future of alternative fuels, to me this is nothing short of fantastic news.

 

I suppose I'm more worried about Betty soccer mom rear ending me, causing some horrific explosion..


Oh I'd so love it if fuel was rice cheap...

 

...it will be a sporty application


That = Kabura, not RX-7

 

yeah, thats exactlty what I want, a "green" RX-8.

 

One of the biggest challenges - after the production - will be setting up a nation and world wide supply and (mainly) distrobution infrastructure on a large enough scale to support automobiles

 

With all the exhaust emanating from the rotary it's a sin to not turbocharge it.

Having owned 3 generations of the wankel, I'll always take the blower-driven motor over the N/A, turbo lag and all that comes with it.