Flyable Porsche as opposed to a roadable airplane.
Structurally speaking high buck cars and airplanes are
converging. This is about what I had in mind for a roadable
aircraft fuselage. The weight on this chassis is 175 pounds
plus 45 pounds or 220 pounds.  Not bad for a fuselage.

Also in this article I might add Porsche got it right for weight
distribution and aerodynamic down force distribution. See the attached
OCR text. This correlates well with what I said back in 1968.

http://www.rotaryeng.net/who.html

It is hell to be 40 years ahead of your time :)

Mazda and the dumb automotive press are still hung up on
50:50 weight distrubtion. What they should have done is move
the Mazda 3 power train to the back of the Miata. The next
thing after that would be a front drive Mazda 3 with a rotary
and then a new mid engine rotary powered sports car.

But no... what we get is a warmed over 1950's English sports car
with a four cylinder boing boing..

HIGH-PERFORMANCE Composites July 2005
"Aerodynamics and downforces One of the main considerations for a race car design is
aerodynamics, two components of which are lift and drag. At the Carrera GT's top
speed of 330 kph/205 mph, aerodynamic lift forces could significantly reduce
stability. To develop sufficient downforce without creating a negative influence on
the car's drag coefficient, Porsche designed a carbon fiber underfloor cover based on
its years of racing experience and then optimized it in wind tunnel trials. The
carbon undercover is bolted to the chassis, engine frame and stainless steel crash
structure, and features diffusers, ventilation channels and air fins. The system,
which includes the undercover, front air ducts and rear automatically adjustable
spoiler, is designed to ensure not only strong downforce (4,000 Newtons/900 Ib), but
an optimum 30:70 distribution of downforce between front and rear axles, respectively."

Paul Lamar

As a member of the automotive press you recently defiled, let me remind you of a few facts:
1  I've been doing this for 34 years. What have you done that long?
2  I told you years ago there would be no rotary in the MX-5 (no longer Miata)
3  I have never been a fan of 50-50 axle loading. I constructed my own mid-engined kit car in 1969-70 and drove it cross-country upon completion.  One of my favorite all time rides was in the Mercedes C111, the last interesting car built by DB
4  The next rotary application by Mazda is likely to be a 2+2 two-door coupe revival of the RX-3.  Transferring left to right, front or back, will be difficult due to a tall tunnel
5  The Porsche Carrera GT is well constructed but costs $450,000 and weighs more than a $68,500 Corvette Z06.  The two are comparable in performance.
out, DS

I was not talking about you. I was talking about R&T and Larry Webster
in C&D Sept 2005 page 69. You are relatively well educated in this
regard since you came to my race car engineering seminar in 1973 :)

You know exactly what I have been doing.

They can change the name all they want it is still a Miata.

If Mazda designed a front drive transmission for the rotary there would
be no problem "Transferring left to right."

612 HP, 124 MPH in 9.9 seconds and 205 MPH top speed is hardly
comparable to a Corvette Z06 not to mention 225 pounds of downforce
at 100 MPH. I'll admit the $444,000 price is a bit much :)

BTW I saw your mug on the Speed Chanel recently when you went aprox
180 MPH in a Chevy econo box something or other at Bonneville.
Not bad for an old man :).

PL

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