This is a transverse rotary engine/transmission package.
The good news here from our point of view is this engine/transmission
package would make a good mid engine sports car package about
like a Lotus Elise. The all up weight and frontal area should
be close to the Lotus Elise.
A frequently over looked advantage of the rotary engine
in certain car magazines is the exceptional power to weight
ratio advantage of the rotary engine. The weight of the chassis
is directly related to the weight of the engine. Usually
the ratio is about four to one. One pound out of the engine and
you can take three or four pounds off the chassis
weight. This mostly makes up for the slightly worse BSFC of the
rotary. This is one of the main reason the RX8 is 500 pounds lighter
than the Nissan Z sports car. Good chassis design also has
a lot to do with it. If you put a V6 in the RX8 as a certain
ex student of mine, car magazine EDITOR-IN-CHIEF suggested to me
at the Tokyo show it would get a LOT heavier.
With an all aluminum 16B my guess it would beat
just about any production sports car around most road
race tracks in the world short of perhaps Le Mans.
It would certainly beat anything that cost less than
two or three times its price.
I mentioned this to Noburo Katabucho RX8 Program Manager
and his eyes lit up :)
BTW all pictures on here from TMS were shot by me.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
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Copyright 1998-2005 All world wide rights reserved.
Nice pictures, but what does it look like under the hood?? :)
BTW, how was your trip?
Matt-
I tried Matt but all you saw was a plastic engine cover just
like the RX8. They would not let me rip it out :)
JAL was great going over. AA coming back was the hardest
seat I ever sat in for 10 hours. I could not get to sleep.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site.
http://www.rotaryeng.net
Copyright 1998-2005 All world wide rights reserved.