How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the Rotary Engine Alive

Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by brucethemoose2 on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @11:21AM (#37753110)

Yeah, this is a good setup for a rotary. Its kinda like the Porsche 918, with its super high revving, tiny racecar V6 that only made power at high RPM, compensated by a electric motor everywhere else... Though I question if Mazda will really be able to keep the curb weight down. Other manufacturers just can't seem to help themselves, and stuff tons if heavy junk in modern cars.

Maybe tuners (or Mazda themself?) will put a centrifugal supercharger on it later. They seem to be en vogue, they are simple and light, and they don't butcher timings/compression and such as much as a turbocharger or other superchargers, with was a major pain point with the RX-8 Wankel.

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Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by HPsquared on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @11:26AM (#37753164)

How about supercharger (or turbocharger) + exhaust energy recovery turbine? Perhaps coupled to an electric generator? Would be a nice match to the hybrid electric system.

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Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by brucethemoose2 on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:34PM (#37755016)

> exhaust energy recovery turbine

That would be a turbocharger. And electric turbocharger and driveshaft turbochargers are also a thing.

The problem with turbo is backpressure from the exhaust energy recovery part, which compromises some other engine tuning. And the problem with traditional superchargers is low efficiency + high boost in low RPMs, same issue.

A centrifugal supercharger is relatively efficient and basically only does anything at high RPM, so from what I understand it won't "upset" the compression of the rotary or highly tuned NA engines as much as a traditional turbo/supercharger.

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Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by potta_coffee on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @11:29AM (#37753198)

They can do it. The ND Miata was actually lighter than the NA Miata, which is quite a feat.

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Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by brucethemoose2 on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:30PM (#37754957)

Yeah, the Miata is amazing.

Dare I say it, it would be better than the RX8/RX9 if they just put a big wankel in it.

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Re:How the Upcoming Mazda RX-9 Will Keep the Spirit of the R... by potta_coffee on Wednesday October 04, 2023 @01:54PM (#37769054)

I have an NA, it's great, I love it. My dream car is still the twin turbo FD.

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