Why did Mazda put those stupid, Mustang-style fake vents aft of the front wheels?
 

I'm excited about seeing the 8 on the road and excited for all of you getting one, but what the hell is with those purely cosmetic, POS vents? Is that just on the show cars?

Nasty.

Those are actually fully functional vents.

Yes, I believe they are functional...but I think the ones on the FD looked MUCH better.

I agree, they look like they belong on a Mustang. Overall, however, the car looks pretty sweet so it doesn't bother me too much.

Re: Why did Mazda put those stupid, Mustang-style fake vents aft of the front wheels?
 

Mustang-style? Perhaps...in a reverse sort of way. I never thought of it that way.

Purely cosmetic? Absolutely not. Just like on the FD3S RX-7, they vent air as it passes through the oil coolers and over the wheel wells.

Hi Droidekaus,

The left and right openings in the front are to allow air into the RX-8s oil coolers. The enlarged wheel arches of the rx-8 look almost as if they were designed to allow large oil cooler ducts to run over the front wheel wells and out of the vents, yes? Hmm... :D


See the attached diagram of the 1999 rx-7:
http://www.rx8forum.com/attachment.p...tachmentid=617

Brian

I believe for aerodynamics just like the seven. Air comes through the front ducts over the wheel and through the vents.

Buger beat me to it. :mad: You post to fast :D .

:D

Hmmm... I do see that now in this wide pic. There was a different close-up of just the bottom of the vent which is not nearly as "open" as the top. Nevermind. They still look like ass.

BTW, those are the RE040s. Start screaming at MAZDA now to NOT put those POS tires on your car.

http://www.socal7s.org/laas2003/DSC00248.jpg

That's cool! Did any RX-7 owners mod the path of air-flow to hit the rotors instead?

Yes, I've seen a webpage where somebody showed how he created the duct to do it. :) Perhaps somebody here has the link?

Brian

Mod it? Naw, the RX-7 has got you covered bone stock. ;) The duct in the front lip (just below the oil cooler duct) is vented to the brake rotors.

Yeah, those with the R1/R2 lips, not us with the plain plastic trim. (-_-)

Post edited for stupidity.

Since Mazda completely designed and developed the RX-8 without the input of Ford I don't see how you make that correlation.

and the design was used previously in the 7, i doubt ford had any hand in it.

Sorry for the dumb connection. I was unaware of that fact. I will try to keep the dumb comments to a minimum from now on.:(

That's ok. .just go back and edit your post with one of these: http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...kopfpatsch.gif :D

lol

Although I wasn't aware of the design's fuctionality and previous use in the RX-7, I was more concerned about the chintzy look of the vents. Kind of like the Z's handles.