Mazda reveal rotary engine sports car concept

Mazda reveal rotary engine sports car concept

Mazda's latest sports car concept, unveiled today at the Tokyo Motor Show is drawing a lot of attention.

The Mazda RX-VISION is powered by a next generation SKYACTIV-R rotary engine, and it is due to this unconventional technology that the car is proving so popular

With an exquisitely proportioned front-engine, the rear-wheel drive RX-VISION represents a "vision" of the future, and one that Mazda fans across the world hope will become a reality.

The RX-VISION is not the Japanese brand's first venture into rotary engine technology, in 1991 it became the only company to ever win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a rotary-powered race car, a feat it managed in the Mazda 787B.

Rotary engines generate power through the rotational motion of triangular rotors (unlike the reciprocating pistons in conventional automotive engines). Previously, Mazda succeeded in commercialising rotary power, first in the Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S in 1967 followed by several other models.

The Mazda RX-7 proved the most successful of these, becoming the most-sold rotary car ever with more than 800,000 produced between 1978 and 2002.

Mazda claim to have chosen the SKYACTIV-R label for the next-generation rotary engine to express its determination to continue to deliver convention-defying technology and an uncompromising SKYACTIV experience behind the wheel.

by: Laura Thomson