Mazda Furai Concept
Mazda has engaged in the mother of all teaser campaigns for the upcoming Nagare-inspired stream of design-language concepts said to foretell the look of future products.
Indeed, we have seen exactly zero of these future products in anything remotely resembling production form but instead some five different embodiments of the funky, organic, weeds-water-and-breezes design on vehicles ranging from sports cars to SUVs to the flying-saucer-like Taiki.
And now, this: the ALMS-inspired Furai shown at the 2008 Detroit auto show. Clearly this is the one we like best.
A Mazda Supercar?
Mazda says the Furai, whose name means "sound of the wind," blurs boundaries between street cars and track cars. From Mazda's preshow press release: "Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose race cars and street-legal models—commonly called supercars—that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before."
Certainly the Furai appears to follow a tried-and-true supercar format: mid-mounted powerplant; narrow cockpit; defined, protuberant wheels; and chassis more honed for track than road.
In this case, the chassis is the same "Courage 65" architecture that provided the basis of the racers Mazda used to compete in the American Le Mans Series two years ago.
But the styling is vastly different than anything on the road (or track, for that matter) today. The "bamboo leaves" that contain the headlamp elements are said to actually cancel front-end downforce like so many mini air dams. The nose cone is a brilliant sculptural interpretation of Mazda's five-point grille. The Nagare sand dunes are present on the bodysides, but the vanes help feed air into the hungry intakes on each side. Pretty much everything on the Furai—the mirrors, the wheels, the hauntingly organic back end—represents an arresting experiment of natural forms coming together to help lowly humans attain supernatural speed.
Mazda's Reverence for the Rotary Continues
Our favorite part, however, is the three-rotor Wankel rotary engine. Not only is it said to be capable of some 450 horsepower, but thanks to the inherent flexible-fuel capability of the rotary engine, it does so while burning 100-percent ethanol.
And Mazda further underscored the rotary's relevance with this encouraging comment: "The ultimate Mazda in our minds is rotary-powered; as a company, we have no intention of abandoning that concept."
Mazda is mum on other details of the Furai, including whether or not this, like the Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze, and Taiki before it, will spawn an actual production model. We certainly hope it does, whether it be for the road or, say, an amateur racing series. In any case, we don't see why Mazda couldn't stick a three-rotor engine like this into the follow-up to the RX-8.
Mazda has engaged in the mother of all teaser campaigns for the upcoming Nagare-inspired stream of design-language concepts said to foretell the look of future products.
Indeed, we have seen exactly zero of these future products in anything remotely resembling production form but instead some five different embodiments of the funky, organic, weeds-water-and-breezes design on vehicles ranging from sports cars to SUVs to the flying-saucer-like Taiki.
And now, this: the ALMS-inspired Furai shown at the 2008 Detroit auto show. Clearly this is the one we like best.
A Mazda Supercar?
Mazda says the Furai, whose name means "sound of the wind," blurs boundaries between street cars and track cars. From Mazda's preshow press release: "Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose race cars and street-legal models—commonly called supercars—that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before."
Certainly the Furai appears to follow a tried-and-true supercar format: mid-mounted powerplant; narrow cockpit; defined, protuberant wheels; and chassis more honed for track than road.
In this case, the chassis is the same "Courage 65" architecture that provided the basis of the racers Mazda used to compete in the American Le Mans Series two years ago.
But the styling is vastly different than anything on the road (or track, for that matter) today. The "bamboo leaves" that contain the headlamp elements are said to actually cancel front-end downforce like so many mini air dams. The nose cone is a brilliant sculptural interpretation of Mazda's five-point grille. The Nagare sand dunes are present on the bodysides, but the vanes help feed air into the hungry intakes on each side. Pretty much everything on the Furai—the mirrors, the wheels, the hauntingly organic back end—represents an arresting experiment of natural forms coming together to help lowly humans attain supernatural speed.
Mazda's Reverence for the Rotary Continues
Our favorite part, however, is the three-rotor Wankel rotary engine. Not only is it said to be capable of some 450 horsepower, but thanks to the inherent flexible-fuel capability of the rotary engine, it does so while burning 100-percent ethanol.
And Mazda further underscored the rotary's relevance with this encouraging comment: "The ultimate Mazda in our minds is rotary-powered; as a company, we have no intention of abandoning that concept."
Mazda is mum on other details of the Furai, including whether or not this, like the Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze, and Taiki before it, will spawn an actual production model. We certainly hope it does, whether it be for the road or, say, an amateur racing series. In any case, we don't see why Mazda couldn't stick a three-rotor engine like this into the follow-up to the RX-8.
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