There's a fairly long straightaway on the handling course at Mazda's
Miyoshi proving ground that encourages a bit of leg stretching, but the
sweeping left-hander that leads to it is blind because of hedges that
surround much of the track.
Luckily,
the corner has broad paved shoulders so we could take a long, wide
line, letting the new RX-8 drift comfortably across the track as it
barreled onto the straight. Then it was just a matter of burying the
throttle and watching the digital speedometer wink upward through the
numbers, reaching 190 kilometers per hour (about 119 mph) before
running out of racetrack.
As the speed creeps up, so does the intensity of the sound, changing
from a flat ripping note to an angry drone as it reaches for its
8500-rpm power peak. An almost indiscernible vibration at the controls
grows to a subtle trembling, as if the car were firing an
ultra-light-recoil machine gun. The experience is unlike anything else.
This, then, is the return of the rotary. For a while there we
thought green zealotry had killed off the only viable gas-burning
alternative to the ubiquitous reciprocating engine. But a brilliantly
straightforward modification to the rotary engine's design has improved
fuel economy by 20 percent, according to Seiji Tashima, the engineer in
charge of the so-called Renesis engine project, and cleaned up
emissions so they meet LEV II and Euro 4 standards.
Mazda engineers simply moved the exhaust ports (there are no valves
in a rotary engine) from where they had been on the peripheral face of
the rotor housing and placed them on the side plates. At a stroke, that
reduced the overlap between inlet and exhaust ports, minimizing the
amount of air-fuel mixture lost directly out of the exhaust port.
In turn, this modification yielded lower fuel consumption and produced
cleaner exhaust emissions. In the process Mazda made the naturally
aspirated 13B twin-rotor Renesis engine about as powerful (at a
provisional 247 horsepower) as the previous-generation turbo motor. One
of the tweaks is a 30-percent increase in port size. Other additions
are a variable-volume intake system and an electronic throttle. The
rest is Mazda magic. But before you start mentally calculating how much more power a
turbo version of the Renesis engine will punch out, we have to tell you
that relatively cool exhaust gas from turbocharged rotary motors
prevents efficient catalytic conversion, making it unlikely we'll see
one soon, if ever.
But never say never. Hey, they brought back the rotary, didn't they?
And in this new RX-8, it embodies an unusual concept: the four-seat
sports car. Yeah, we know that Nissan once called the Maxima a
four-door sports car, but let's get real here. This RX-8 actually runs
and steers and feels like a convincing spiritual successor to the
quick-witted but slow-selling RX-7. It's easy to say four-seat sports car, but what does it mean? In
this case, it means feeling light and nimble, turning in like a race
car, and resisting roll in corners. It means splitting its mass 50/50
over the front and rear axles and crouching on an independent
suspension all around, with rear toe-control links to keep the tail
from wagging the dog. (A stability-control function is now included for
the faint of heart.) It means rear-wheel drive, a slick six-speed
shifter, and a warning buzz when the roaring rotary hits nine grand.
But this time you can take three passengers along for the ride,
thanks to a pair of rearward opening "freestyle doors" that allow
access to a surprisingly spacious rear compartment. Because the front
and rear doors marry without a center pillar, the two rear seats can be
reached fairly easily through the large apertures. And since there are
no external handles on the rear doors, the sports-car image isn't
compromised by four protrusions. A system of interlocking lateral and
vertical beams forms a tough skeleton inside the door skins to provide
decent side-impact protection. In the process, they also lend the
interlaced doors a great deal of rigidity. |