If you have cable TV watch BBC Top Gear. Therein they test 800 HP
European super cars. These cars sell for a million or more dollars.

Our old Chaparral Can Am racing car chassis weighed under 50 pounds
made from aluminium. A carbon fibre chassis under 50 pounds would be
 at least three times as stiff.

The Chaparral 2F body was 1/4 inch thick foam core with 4 oz
fibreglass skins. It was very tough and had more than enough
stiffness for over 200 MPH. The weight doubled when we painted it. I
have been around the NASCAR Daytona oval  at night, at over 200 MPH,
with Phil Hill driving the 2F.

I would mount a Chaparral 2F style movable suspension mounted rear
wing on the car.

The 1100 HP Mazda turbo four rotor would weigh under 400 pounds.

My guess is the 1100 HP  turbo 4 rotor super car would weigh about
600 pounds. That ought to shock the Top Gear car pundits. It would
easily hold the lap record around the Top Gear test track.

If I were building one I would move to the UK as all kinds of carbon
 fibre car parts would be readily available. Hurley Engineering in
Coventry UK is already building 4 rotor Mazda engines.

The draconian DOT crash rules are entirely too severe in the US. The
US gov agency must justify their existence by escalating the rules
year after year. As a result US cars are 150% of the weight of
comparably European cars.

I rented a Renault Cleo in Germany recently  and it weighed 2000
pounds. The Cleo claimed 60 MPG and it would easily go 160 KPH on the
autobahn.

My RX8 weighs 3000 pounds with a 200 pound engine and aluminium body
 parts. The RX8 drive shaft is also carbon fibre.

Because of the this we are paying a huge cost and MPG penalty in the
  US.

The auto accident death rate is no higher in Europe than it is in the
US despite parts of the autobahn having no speed limits.

Paul Lamar

I still think its [2F] coolest car ever built:-)

Van

Here we go: http://youtu.be/pbn_w-VNDd8

Mad Mike's 4 rotor Twin Turbo MIATA!

-Dan G.

Is is always been a mystery to me why Mazda did not put the Rotary in the Miata.

Paul Lamar

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