Paul,

Any news on the new 16B engine?

Steve Brazil

Nothing.

I would not be surprised, given the price of gas,
that it does not make it. If I were Mazda I would be busting
my buns on turbo compound.

--
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.


Last months road & track had an article on the  RX7 and a
200 to 253 hp for 16x was quoted. and that they had gotten
the green light for the rx7 to be built.

Clifton

If I were Mazda I would not build a bigger rotary.
That is not going to buy them 20% better MPG.

If not building a 20% higher MPG turbo compound rotary I would focus
an a computer controlled manual transmission that shifted
super fast upon kick down to exactly the right gear
for the current speed such as this transmission from Mercedes.

They can also increase the power on the top end
with a trap door p-port and still meet all emission
regulations.

Paul Lamar

Paul,

  I guess there are at least two sides to the "should they/shouldn't they"
decision.  From your/our side - increasing efficiency of the rotary would
boost its marketability and keep us in rotaries.  From the Mazda side - they
don't have to increase efficiency much (if at all) because the -7 would
still be a relatively low volume car and the fuel economy target they need
to meet is corporate average.  To get better corporate average economy they
only need to balance the trucks/SUVs/performance vehicle sales with more
efficient vehicles.

  It's all part of the 'shell game' the US big three have been playing for
years - push high profit margin pickups and SUVs (that don't have the same
CAFE and safety demands as cars) on one hand, while pushing against
increases in CAFE standards or decreased emissions standards, while
importing Suzuki Swift's to sell as Geo Metros to balance the corporate fuel
economy numbers.

  Sorry, Amigo - I'm not sure bean counters and engineers exist in the same
worlds.  :-)

  Andy

That was in the recent past.
Wait till fuel hits six to ten dollars a gallon.
It takes years to bring a new engine design to market.

A 9,500 RPM  RX8 with the type of transmission I am talking about
and a trap door p-port would be a real blast to drive.
You could imagine you were in a Formula One car.

I doubt seriously, due to RPM limitations, the 16B would generate
all that much more power than the current RX8 engine.

IMHO they went the wrong direction making the 16B rotors narrower.
IMHO the AIXRO engine is going in the right direction for a better
combustion chamber shape. No charge cooling of course.

The best combustion chamber shape is a sphere. Second best is a
flat cylinder like most piston engines. Third best is a flat square
box like the AIXRO. Last is a flat rectangler box like the 16B or 12A.

BTW IMHO the best way to get reasonably priced fuel is convert the entire
middle east into a secular democracy, drill here, drastically improve
the efficiency of engines and buy more crude from Canada.

There is no one silver bullet.