Nice article here regarding rotaries: Talking Rotaries With Pan Speed - Speedhunters

Particularly like this quote about the possible future of rotary cars: “There won’t be a next RX-7; they [Mazda] have tried to figure out ways to engineer a Wankel engine for the future, but as far as I know that was all dropped years ago. These motors were great in the older days, but they are too unreliable, too thirsty, and pollute too much to be relevant in the future. The best we can do is hope Mazda realize they need to continue to support rotary lovers, so that they can continue to maintain and keep their cars fresh.”

Also interested to see the full feature on the RX8 mentioned in the article: “Ah yes, the RX-8, that’s one year in the making and something I’m very proud of. It’s our first Pan Speed complete car; the perfect interpretation of what a modern day rotary car should be. It’s light at just over 1,200kg thanks to the RX-8 already coming in light when stock, and then we built a side-port engine for it which generates 300hp at 8,200rpm. It’s beautifully responsive and peak power comes in way under 9,000rpm, which means it can be more reliable. We’ve teamed up with Kinoshita-san [a famous Japanese race driver) who set up the suspension and handling for fast road use. You have to try it to believe it. Everyone that drives it comes away impressed at how supple the ride is, how sharp and precise the turn-in is, and how well the engine responds. It’s only 300hp, but it’s a lot of fun to drive. I bet it is!

 

I think even supporting the rotaries in the future will require either high profit or high demand for them.

And I would be really interested to see a NA Renesis doing 300 HP(crank or wheel?), and to me, it would also help if they have tackled the low-end torque. I have previously heard that an NA 2-rotor rotary doing 300 WHP would require peripheral ports on both intake and exhaust, which is a race-only setup.

 

Would imagine this is a race build Renesis. They mentioned they lightened it as well. 300 WHP could be achievable especially in a shop like that where they have likely perfected the engine. Would also imagine its using FI either via turbo or supercharger kit.

 

I agree about future availability of rotary parts and support in general. It's going to be an issue at some point. I would imagine Mazda wont continue production forever, its already such a niche product.

Also, yea no mention of that shop RX8 being an N/A engine. I would imagine it would be FI of some kind, will be interesting to see. I like how he mentions its "only" 300 HP, I would love this chassis with 300 HP.

 

It's going to make it impractical to own these cars one day because of the lack of support. All gonna have to go with GM engines one day. Will be an absolute shame too...

 

Agreed, and it is a shame. My engine is already a bit low on compression, so I'm struggling with future plans. I think moving on to something else at some point makes sense. I love this car, but I'm eyeing the ND Miata. Hoping to get another couple of seasons out of the 8 before I have to decide.