SECOND-HAND SENSEThis week's column may be of limited interest to most car buyers, but it concerns one of the most fascinating cars around. Being a sports car, the Mazda RX-8 is, by definition, different from the mainstream but what really distinguishes it is the fact that it is the only production car around that uses a rotary engine that produces very impressive speeds from an engine relatively limited in capacity.
We don't want to get too technical - and fans will already be familiar with the rotary principle - but the engine uses a rotor instead of pistons. The rotor, which spins within its own housing, produces pressure to drive the car but without using conventional parts like the pistons, crankshaft, valves, rocker arms and so on. The result is an engine that can achieve extremely high revs, is much lighter and, in fairness, much more problematic when it goes wrong. Several companies toyed with the rotary engine (invente
Last edited by BrainLobo on Fri Oct 11, 2019 01:47:56, edited 2 times in total.
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