The latest article pertaining to the Mazda concept RX-8's Renesis Rotary engine in the June '01 Road & Track elludes to the fact that the production version may indeed get the 10,000 RPM redline. Suck. It's the fifth article I've seen in as many months, and I hope they're all wrong. Although the Wankel has been capable of 12,000+ redlines for years, it has been kept under such because almost no hp or torque is made at said rpms. The Renesis changes that. I don't compare the two directly of course (certainly the Wankel is inherently better by design), but it will be sad to lose the "highest RPM distinction". Oh well.

Andrew

 

It's a rotary tho.

 

Yep, krazik is right. Rotaries spin faster...it's just the nature of the design on the motor and compression/ignition process. Great and interesting design...love the Wankel. They have weird problems, but neat approach to power.

 

also if my memory servers me right, the Gen 3 Rx7 had a 9k or like 8800RPM redline.

 

Don't think it matters to the consumer, if it is 10000rpm, it is going to sound good whether it comes from a rotary or conventional. I for one would belong to that category.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nwk00
[B]Don't think it matters to the consumer, if it is 10000rpm, it is going to sound good whether it comes from a rotary or conventional. I for one would belong to that category.

 

My 3rd Gen RX-7 has a 8000 RPM redline, and makes peak HP between 6K and 7K. The engine smoothly revs to redline, sometimes I wish it could just keep going, but then I just grab another gear and do it all over again. If only it had the sweet 6-speed gearbox of the S2000. Maybe it's time for that short-shifter kit.

-Brett

 

Can you say apex seals? I can.

-Shing

 

A rotary at high RPM doesn't sound like our sweet shriek;
it's more like a raspy square wave buzz bomb. This is old news, too; you just can't compare rotaries with pistons.

-dB

 

I really wasn't comparing the two at all if you read my post, that would be a useless comparrison, I was merely stating that it's nice to have the highest production redline in the world, and it'll be sad to lose that distincion...that's all.

Andrew