When Mazda was challenged to turn its stunning “Flow” concepts into a real car, they rose to the task — but not in the way one would have expected.
Every major auto show sees Mazda unveiling a new concept based on Nagare (Japanese for “flow”) design language. They are beautiful but clearly not practical, so the launch of a 450-horsepower race car based on their concepts was an unexpected but smart approach for the Japanese automaker to take.
Inspired by the fact that on any given weekend, there are more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars road-raced in the U.S. than any other brand, the Furai (Japanese for “sound of the wind” and pronounced “foo-rye”) with its rotary engine makes a great deal of sense. The car runs on ethanol produced in partnership with BP.
Furai takes Mazda’s Nagare design language a step further as it is translated into a concept car based on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race car. The car utilizes the Courage C65 chassis the company campaigned in the ALMS series only two seasons ago.
Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda’s North American director of design, said Furai “purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose race cars and street-legal models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before.”
2009 Mazda RX-8
A lightly refreshed RX-8 coupe made its world debut in Detroit. Since its launch in 2003, the RX-8 has been recognized as a genuine sports car but features a unique four-door, four-seat format that delivers sports car values, passenger comfort and driving pleasure, says Mazda.
For 2009, Mazda will further the evolution of RX-8 with a refreshed exterior and interior design, enhanced performance and a new R3 sport package for the ultimate driving enthusiast.
Engineers improved body rigidity through the addition of structural reinforcements, by adding a trapezoidal strut tower bar and enhancing the local rigidity of the front suspension tower areas. Also, the rear suspension geometry
has been reconfigured for better handling performance and driveshaft rigidity is improved, lowering NVH levels and improving performance.
Powered by the world’s only mass-produced rotary engine, RX-8 is the spiritual successor to the 1967 Cosmo 110S, the world’s first twin-rotor production car. With almost two million rotary engines sold, and the company’s legendary win at the 1991 24-hour Le Mans race — the only Japanese brand to ever win the endurance racing classic — the rotary engine remains the sole preserve of Mazda.
