Ford owns 33% of Mazda. They tend to let Mazda do their own thing and steal the good chassis from Volvo, but not necessarily ruin the other two.

Ford going down would only affect Mazda as far as the outdated pickups they use and the CX-9.

The RX8 was only released because Mazda thought there were enough rotary fans out there to please...and there was. Theres no reason why they shouldnt sell an RX7.

I think the only reason the concept was associated with a "new RX7" was because it was rotary powered...I dont think anyone from Mazda actually said "this is what the new RX7 could be"

 

^ my thoughts exactly

 

Actually, for most people that seems to be it. People that aren't too familiar with them will just see them at some sort of gathering and hate how they sound, then watch them break. I've seen quite a few stories of RX7s ruining auto-X and drag days by puking on the tracks. For me, I've already said; their shortcomings FAR outweigh their positives. I also hate the sound of them a lot.

 

I understand, and i will admit that they do break down alot. But you got to admit that 7.45 seconds for a rotary is good.

 

If only they all sounded like this.............YouTube - Joe from Rotormaster going for a 6!!
My FD sounded great. 13b with T66, minor street port on an E6K. You could hear the exhaust pulses in the stainless downpipe through Thermal research exhaust. I loved it! However, there is no error in the tuning or its an expensive lesson learned. I had Scott from Mazsport build mine after I sent an Apex seal through my Greddy T88H. After I got the price on replacing just the exhaust wheel from Greddy (even though its a Mitsubishi turbo), I purchased a brand new Turbonetics T66 for the same price almost. Once Mazsport built the new motor I sold it cause I didn't want to go through the aggony of it happening again. Good luck to those of you that have them and have had a good experience.

 

if its rotary, it sounds good. unless its an exhaust leaking fc. but open header like the n/a's at the track, obnoxiously loud... ya i love the sound. got to be a true rotary fan to appreciate that.

 

Yes you do! Most other people dont

 

As soon as i see one at the track i start cursing........****ing loud ass things...blah blah... As do most people around me also.

Would a strait through muffler really hurt that bad?????

 

actually with rotarys & huge overlap in timing due to extreme ports (the loud N/As) any muffling at all will substantially reduce horse power. back when the rotary first came out, and they were in the early stages of racing in the late 60s early 70s, they made a muffler that reduced it from something like 128dB at a certain distance to around 112 at the same distance, all the while costing like 10-15 horse power. so to them, any back pressure does do damage to the numbers, not by much but if you're going all out they're going to have to be loud.

 

At what point of increasing the diameter of the rotor (thereby increasing the weight) limit the speed of the motor? If you increased it 20mm (just pulled this number out of my ass) would the extra weight from a bigger rotor limit the redline to the point that it would actually make less power?