Per Your Request: Putting The Wankel In The RX!

E.McPan asks why the Mazda RX-8 has a rotary engine (the Wankel) in it. The short answer is simple: TRADITION! All RX cars from Mazda have had the rotary engine in it therefore the RX-8 has one in it. The "R" does stand for rotary after all.

Now for the longer answer. When Dr. Wankel created the rotary engine the major attribute going for it was more power from a lighter weight engine. As weight is bad for cars, especially a sports car, a lighter engine is a good thing. Mazda installed the rotary in cars in the late 1960's, but the first sporty car with it was the RX-7 in 1979.

The rotary has many advantages, lower center of gravity (car turns easier), revs very quickly(engine develops power faster), lighter weight (weight is always the enemy for starting, stopping, turning). Why is it not used more often? Traditionally the rotary created lots of pollution and guzzled lots of fuel. Two not so nice traits in the modern era. Though modern engineering has helped with those problems, it is unlikely we'll see rotaries in more mainstream cars as the fuel economy penalty would be too great. On a sportscar like the RX-8 that isn't a problem though. The buyer expects a fuel economy penalty for the enhanced performance.

There you go E, I hope you enjoyed the Confessions Requestline.