I am here at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin where there are
about 500 road racing cars. (Goodyear has seven tractor
trailers full of racing tires.) Some cars as old as 50 years.
The SCCA members are a collection of mostly middle
age men that want to race their favorite sports car. They are
in love with these car and love is blind. "Don't confuse
me with the facts. My mind is made up and I have a lot
invested in this car". These prepared racing cars are sold
and resold over the years to some new guy that wants to
go road racing.

There are at least two dozen classes
of race cars. If you find your self getting beat by
another brand or type of car or engine you wine and moan
to the elected hierarchy and they make up a new class
just for you.

Now along comes a guy  that wants to put a rotary engine
in his Miata because it would be much faster and the engine
would last 3 years of racing or more while you need at
least one piston engine rebuild each year. Furthermore
the rotary is far cheaper to overhaul. The screams and moaning
can be heard for miles so the SCCA put severe restrictor
on the rotary intake manifold and bane all P-ports outright.

If they did not do this the Mazda rotary engines would dominate
50% of the SCCA race car classes due to the vastly superior
power to weight ratio and engine life under full power
conditions.

Here are two brave souls that put rotaries in their
Miatas. One has a 51 mm weber and the other Megasquirt
EFI. They were rewarded for their efforts by being
forced to run a 1.5 inch diameter restrictor.
The HP is barely 150 while the piston engine Miatas
are around 180 HP. This is a really stupid idea!!!

The rotary road racers of the world should get
together and form their own club.


Paul Lamar

The Miata is not now and never will be the logical car for a rotary.
Agree with everything you say about the reliability.  But the
production piston engine is less expensive and difference in height of
an eccentric shaft vs. a crankshaft makes it very difficult to place
both engines into the same platform.

Yes, form a separate rotary club.  That is the wave of the future.
You should design an affordable rotary-powered track car.  I believe
you'd find a lot of buyers.
jd