By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Perfect for that Mazda-loving Dad in your life. Wait… does anyone actually have a Mazda-loving dad? I hope not, because these appear to be one-offs created by this weird jeweler, so your dad can’t have them anyway. Via Jalopnik.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Yesterday Jen showed you a Buick-powered RX-7. Well how about a rotary-powered Nova? Read all about it at rx7club.com Via build-threads.com

By Steve Neill

Steve Neill

Taking a long look back through the history of time, we can see that man worked hard to improve upon ideas. From the use of the wheel, to the use of a tool as a weapon, to fire, to pretty much anything you use today, we all owe it to someone who worked hard and didn’t give up. In the early 50′s, NSU (Motorenworke AG) in Germany tried to put the newly designed Wankel Rotary engine to use, but to no avail. They sold their stake in its patents to Mercedes Benz, who were similarly unable to improve upon the design. They spent endless hours working on it, to make it more reliable, and more powerful, and less smoggy, but in the end, they too gave up.

It wasn’t until the introduction of the Mazda Cosmos that people took notice of the Wankel Rotary It was to change the automotive world, eventually being used in one of the greatest sports cars of all time: The Mazda RX-7.

Read more after the jump!

Continue reading "History Lesson: The Mazda RX-7" »

Everyone here’s familiar with the basic types of internal combustion engines. Most of us own V-block or inline powerplants, and of course some of you Subaru guys run those famous horizontally-opposed boxers. Personally, I always thought Mazda’s old rotary engine was the coolest thing going–that is, until I heard about this. Meet the Rotoblock, an "oscillating piston engine" which uses four pairs of pistons in a round cylinder block, and promises decreased complexity and increased efficiency. Confused about how such a thing might work? I was too. Luckily, the Rotoblock site provides animations and this crazy video to help you make sense of the concept. What do you think? Engine of the future, or over engineered mess?

You might’ve heard about the 40th Anniversary Edition Rotary Engine Mazda RX-8 featured at NAIAS. It’s got a twin-rotor RENESIS engine with side-ported intake and exhaust, and a beefed-up suspension including Bilsteins, urethane-foam-reinforced front-end components, and electric-motor power-assisted steering. Only 200 of these special edition RX-8′s will be produced, and though Mazda’s official press release stated last summer that they’d be available in Japan, CarScoop suggests that Mazda Australia will be producing its own 200 units to be sold domestically. Any of you Aussies or rotary fans got any definitive info on this?