The Unforgettable Rotary Powered Mazda Furai, and What Happened to it
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
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In the late 2000s, Mazda set out to redefine its design language with a fresh approach. Famed stylists Franz von Holzhausen and Laurens van den Acker joined the team, and together, they gave birth to the Nagare philosophy. "Nagare," meaning "flow" in Japanese, symbolized a design ethos inspired by the natural world's beauty and motion.
The Nagare series of concepts began in 2006, marking a new chapter in Mazda's design evolution. The Ryuga and Hakaze followed, paving the way for the final and most remarkable concept, the Furai, which was unveiled at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Now The Mazda Furai was unlike any other concept car. While it possessed the graceful lines inspired by the Nagare design language, it was far from a mere stylistic exercise. The Furai was built upon the Courage C65 LMP2 chassis used in the American Le Mans Series during 2006 and 2007.
The heart of the Furai was a monocoque chassis that combined aluminum alloy and carbon fiber. Its suspension featured double wishbones, pushrods, and horizontally mounted dynamic shock absorbers. This lightweight construction, inspired by Le Mans prototypes, was designed for high-speed performance.
Despite its racing pedigree, the Furai's design was a harmonious blend of a road-legal supercar and a Le Mans prototype. It exuded a road car's sensibilities while maintaining the aggressive stance of a racing machine. This fusion of design and function hinted at the potential for a street-legal version. And people all around the world hoped for a possible production version in the future.
Now Stepping inside the Furai, one would instantly recognize that this was a thoroughbred race car. Weight-saving was the paramount concern, evident in the two slim carbon-fiber bucket seats equipped with racing harnesses. The Sparco-designed motorsport steering wheel further emphasized the car's racing heritage.
Honoring the legacy of the iconic 787B, the Furai was equipped with a mid-mounted rotary engine. But Unlike the 787B's awe-inspiring four-rotor engine, the Furai featured a slightly smaller, naturally aspirated three-rotor powerplant known as the R20B Renesis.
Developed by the renowned rotary tuning specialists Racing Beat, the R20B Renesis was based on the Eunos Cosmo's 20B-REW, the only three-rotor engine ever installed in a production car. Running on pure ethanol (E100) biofuel developed by BP, this engine generated 450 horsepower, which, combined with the car's svelte 1,488-pound (675 kg) weight, resulted in exhilarating acceleration. The Furai could sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds. But lets be honest this thing is designed for corners, not acceleration out of the hall.
Despite the Furai's promising future, fate had a cruel twist in store. In August 2008, the concept was flown to England for additional tests and a photo session organized by Top Gear at the former Royal Air Force Bentwaters airfield.
Mark Ticehurst, an experienced British race driver, was behind the wheel when disaster struck. The Furai's three-rotor engine unexpectedly caught fire. Ticehurst managed to exit the vehicle in the nick of time, but the blaze consumed the car.
Firefighters were unable to arrive in time to save the car, and it was reduced to ashes. Mazda conducted an extensive investigation into the incident, but the exact cause was never publicly disclosed. Speculation points to the novel fuel system and the highly flammable ethanol fuel as potential factors.
The demise of the Mazda Furai was a heartbreaking loss for the automotive world. Its striking beauty, remarkable performance, and the unfulfilled potential of racing glory left a void that has never been fully replaced.
#Furai #Rotary #Engine
I find it hilarious that Franz designed both this and the Cybertruck.
Revenge for the Furai....either way he may be the best designer of matches
Don't laugh at the destruction of beauty. Be sadden that he simplified a truck but not a car.
bro, if your'e gonna criticize, at least spell your words right
@@nathanlong8295
funny
It's kinda depressing to be honest
This car was miles ahead of its time design-wise
Legit
I know theres only so much you can do to put the driver front and center, and it limits your design language when youre trying to make the next maclaren f1, I just kinda think mazda were ahead of the curve when it came to what hypercars would look like in the future, it looks like a koenigsegg, or an aston valkyrie, or a bugatti, or whatever youve got a couple million to spunk on. beautiful, certainly, but kinda boring at the same time.
They invented Hypercars 5 years before Mclaren, Ferrari & Porche
lol they just build it on an lmp car lol what are you talking about@@FurryestX
because germans designed it.
The design of it was wayyy ahead of its time. It could be released today and no one would ever know it was an almost 20 year old design. Absolutely beautiful car. It looked like a space ship back in the day and now is the norm when it comes to hypercars.
This car was totally OP in Gran Turismo. It could be won early in the game very easily. And once you had this car you could almost complete the whole game with it. Insane car
which edition of GT was that?
@@twostorywood Number 5 👍
was gonna say its not 4 lol. that mitsubish gt mr twin turbo at the used sales fully upgraded then race modification was unstoppable. @@Noavaileblenames
Gt6. Which was the best gt. Over 1000 cars and 70 tracks
I have it in Gran Turismo 5
Its sad that after all these years they didnt decide to rebuild this masterpiece
D:
It caught fire 😢
One word: money
Yeah and they didnt care enough about it to revive it @deskjet55
Very3 costly
Imagine this racing on the nürburgring with the 787B
R.I.P. Mazda Furai
I didn't know the Furai died... 😮🙁😞
It was literally my favorite Mazda ever. *That thing handled like it was on rails.*
This is how LEGENDS are made!
@@S.AlienLife didn't think I'd meet 2 LEGENDS here, now we're 3.
I just noticed the IMSA label on the car. It would have been awesome if they made a tamer, road-going version of the car and then made this a GT3 car to compete in real racing
That would be weird as it's literally an LMP2 car with new body work.
@@andrewcarter9649 Yeah I don't understand the video talking about developing it for endurance racing. Um...it was developed for endurance racing. It was an existing endurance race car already. They just made a unique body for it so the marketing team could show it off as a futuristic prototype, which it absolutely was not. And by the way, a GT3 version would be a few steps down. Despite what daft videos like this one suggest, there is no way this was actually considered as something that might be turned into a production street car.
@@xtnuser5338 Well there's more to it than just the body, the suspension and power train were unique as well.
@@andrewcarter9649 Yeah, that's true. But my point remains.
@@xtnuser5338 Not really. The Furai is a lot like modern LMDh prototypes, just because you've bought the chassis from someone else doesn't mean you haven't got most of a car to develop.
Furai is to this day the most beautiful car ever made. Add the rotary engine, and I'm in petrol love
Powertrain sound from 3:12-3:20, ooooooooh! Absolutely beautiful machine. Mazda has a knack for wearing those dark horse shoes in style. The DPi was another stellar offering from them.
Imagine a modern day Furai successor with rotary+electric powerplants.
*YES!*
JUST BIGGER FIRE YOU CANT PUT OUT .
nope
have you heard of the RX Vision?
This was my dream car when I was in school. Such an elegant design.
I only knew about this car from using it in an older version of Gran Turismo many years ago. It was one of my favorite cars to drive as it handled so well in races. I had never heard of it and I figured it was some sort of a concept car. I'm sad to hear that it was destroyed in a fire. I sure wish Gran Turismo would bring it back but I'm sure that will never happen. Thank you for the video and the history of the Furai.
What a loss...so sad to see it burnt up. It was awesome looking, for sure.
The point is, a great loss of the prototype, and if MAZDA were serious about it, everything could have been replicated with Courage C65 chassis’ being raced all over the States, all the drawings, analytics and so on no doubt in CAE systems and backed up on servers and no shortage of automotive & motorsport engineering & manufacturing skills in Japan, USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy. That said an awe-inspiring design.. inspiring.
I loved the car and still do. I remember swapping the motor from it into an RX7 FD on Forza and made an S class car that chased down the Veyron S. I named her The Beast and she was the last car I ever built, tested, tuned on any racing game. I spent months perfecting it
Still one of the best looking cars ever
Undoubtedly a timeless design. My favorite concept car of all time.
this car has to make a comeback, its design is incredible and i wish mazda would consider making another one
amazing and disapointing video i learned so much about my dream car but it feels like you left so many questions but honestly that pushes me to search for the answers but... why was only one built? why wasnt another one built to replace it if it was so successful? you built right up to it but never said why... keep it going tho man still have alot to go and your already doin great extreamly enjoyable video about an amazing car!
omg this is my favourite car of all time. Being just a concept or not, truly awesome.
The exhaust, the RX-8 also has those design notes.
This was the car that got me looking at Mazda 🤤
RIP furai, you were a legend
“…although it was burnt, it’s spirit still remains in enthusiasts…”
They should've just never played with ethanol. It should've been a safer mixture but it had to end this way. Would've been the most beautiful car on the road today.
That or a fire suppression system geez wtf were they thinking? Let's put millions into a concept car and have no way to put a fire out with pure ethanol on board... Too bad, it looks awesome and 450hp & 1200lbs sounds like a good time!
Ethanol/methanol has half the calorific (energy) value of petrol, there is no safer fuel. If you use Ethanol in an engine built for petrol, it'll make less power. By the way, the difference between Ethanol and Methanol is it's source. Ethanol is made from vegetable matter, Methanol from sugar. Same stuff, there's nothing special about either.
@@tdon6650 Ethanol and Methanol literally have what they are in their name "Eth" meaning 2 hydrocarbons "meth" meaning 1 hydrocarbon "anol" meaning it has an "OH" attached... also Methnol's old name was wood alcohol no?
The car probibly ran cooler on the fuel, rotaries run super hot, so they probibly pushed it really hard, so I'd be more willing to bet on the car being a rotary is more the problem than the fuel. Although the fuel is more why it couldn't be put out, my understanding is Wankels are particularly fragile, worse so if made wrong (not that the fuel wouldn't have a hand in that, but the blame is probably more on the engine)
Also ethanol burns a lot cleaner and solves the carbon deposit issues of rotaries. @@AnD1262
Could you imagine that thing with a slightly longer wing and the 787b livery would litterly be perfection
This car was so ahead of its time no one even come close.
my fav car since i first saw it god i love it so much
We need this car back in gran turismo updated and refreshed from GT6
What a way to go. Glad no one was hurt.
The design was out of this world, but on paper it didn't sound nearly as wild as it looked. 450bhp, 675kg, but on pure ethanol? Isn't ethanol supposed to really juice your hp?
Doesn't sound like it really would have been able to keep pace with the LMP cars it was based on. Certainly not with modern hypercar class.
It was likely a minorly modified rx8 engine that was in it just to make it run. It's so much easier to develop the car and work out the kinks without having to work out the kinks of an engine setup at the same time. A turbo renesis making 700hp in that light of a car would be bonkers.
Ethanol is alot more beneficial in a boosted engine with its high cooling properties. 450 hp is still awesome from a na 2L engine
@@dickfitzwelliner2807 The engine was an R20B RENESIS MSP. They took the two rotor MSP 13B RENESIS from an RX8, and added a third rotor.
450 HP from an NA engine is pretty good all things considered. Less than 700 kg is below the minimum weight of LMP1 cars, which need to be about 880kg at least. LMP2 and LMP3 cars are much heavier at 950 kg minimum.
And the modern Hypercar class has a minimum weight of 1030 kg and a power limit of 500 kw (670 hp). If lets say the Furai got special permission to be this light and compete against the Hypercar class, it would have a power to weight of 0.667 hp/kg. whilst the hypercars would have a power to weight roughly (if we use the absolute minimum weight possible) of 0.651 hp/kg. So really it would be able to keep pace, and possibly be faster.
I remember it from Real Racing 3, brakes were unreal.
I wish they brought this amazing car back to life
Im pretty sure tha mazda still has the ability to rebuild a furai 2nd version with but this time a 5 rotory engine..it wud be soouuu epic it wud be souu incredible!!
The exhaust that had a triangle shape is by the RACING BEAT racing products for rotary racing...awsome sound👏👏🤩🤩👍
Imagine if this car with a four rotor :)
Would be cool if the low weight wouldn't be effected too much
Ethanol is LESS flamable than gasoline! It's ability to resist detonation is why engines can use it with higher compression rates.
I fell in love with this beautiful car's design when playing gran Turismo on my PSP back in the day. And wish i owned one but unaware at a time it's only concept burned down due to lack of internet or news.
I can not imagine replacing those headlights and taillights
They should rebuild this thing and continue this concept style
One of my favorite designs ever
This was a beautiful car for its time
Loved this car!
Need to remake this
This was a cool car to own in GT6. Was a nightmare to get to work but real fast.
This car is so amazing looking. But I believe that it has a very similar look to the Aston Martin Valkyrie
*So it caught fire and they just quit? Fires and breakdowns happen. Why did they even bother to begin with? What was Mazda's real intention?*
Obviously it was just something the marketing team could show off. Shame it burned, but the objective was complete. They just put a cool body onto an existing LMP2 car. The notion that it was some prototype for a future road car is ridiculous.
@@xtnuser5338 That would be consistent with what carmakers were doing back in the late 90's to 00's. Remember the Cadillac Ciel? Jaguar C-X75? At least the VW W12 eventually became the Veyron!
I remember racing this concept in Asphalt 7 as a kid
I do as well. The only reason I know this car lol
Great shame it caught fire. Would have been amazing to see it race. I have owned a MX5 for many years, a super car, fun to drive, cheap to run, reliable, no reason to change it, even though it's over 20 years old now!
I remember playing Gran Turismo on the PSP and after getting the Furai, it was almost the only car I used lol
I am still wondering what happened to the remains. Are the still there somewhere in a container, or was everything scrapped?
Best car on gt6.
Bring it back
I think Mad Mike gonna build 1 for himself in the future
Knew about the car as a kid because of Forza Motorsport 4 it was unmatched in that game for R3 Class the clip you included of it in the game at the end gave me chills remembering trying to climb the rival leaderboards in it
My first childhood crush ❤
Most beautiful car of all times.
What a beautiful car, shame what happened to it, i wish they rebuilt it and try to restore or build a new one or such, but yeah
then again, when have they ever given us what we want? (::) haha
Furai was the ONLY cool future looking car AND it had a rotary engine which just makes it perfect.
Absolutely the coolest fucking prototype ever created.
It was extremely cool for sure. But it wasn't a prototype. It was just a styling exercise for the marketing team to show off.
@@xtnuser5338 Yeah that is very fair, it's definitely a loose use of the term. It is a shame they never took one racing but we know how they feel about rotors at Le Mans sadly.
GT90 FTW
i love the design of this car
I read an article from Top Gear, for anyone interested it’s called “Exclusive: how the Mazda Furai burned to death”, and a guy lucky, yet unlucky enough to see the car, and to see it burn said something that sent literal chills down my spine. His words exactly: “But a piece of charred Furai still sits on my desk, a reminder of how quickly and how badly things can go wrong.”
In 2017 Mazda joined Imsa in the DPI class, The Mazda RT24 despite the ups and down, including that time it caught fire during the races.
Mazda team won for the last time in 2021 on Road to America winning 1st place.
Mazda have put all of it's money into developing Furai and they have never recovered from it... As we can all see, their best and fastest car is hairdressers convertible since then.
"unfortunately they gave the task of naming it to someone from Birmingham, so it's called the FEWROIII"
This guys accent is awesome to listen to
this car re-ignited the petrol head in me after the stupid rules of racing, and meeting lots of ego-centric-, narcicistic-pre-madonna race drivers and mechaincs stomped it out. the flat(or straight) rear wing looks like an afterthought though.
Say what you want, but early 2000s to mid 2010s supercars were the peak of car history.
These cars still look modern, but the spirit of trying something new was not dead yet, and nobody was ashamed to use a internal-combustion Engine.
Great video!
sad it is destroyed. one of beatiful design from mazda
This was my dream car as a kid, too bad it wasn’t here to stay
Another thing to note is that the Mazda Furai wore the number 55, which was the same number worn by the 787B that won at Le Mans.
i want one of these but ik i cant afford one. one of my favourite cars
Why didn’t they build another one?
Because the intended mission was accomplished already.
There's a new Furai in Auckland New Zealand
It's a PPR replica.
Imagine if we got a Mazda Furai in LMH class
nice one
Mazda should have contracted to build 5 Mazda Furai Prototypes >>> One displayed at the Mazda HQ & 2 for Testing in Japan & 2 for as International Promotional Ambassadors ... 🌷🌿🌏💙🕊🇯🇵
Love ur SA accent cud listen 2 it aaaaaaall day HEHEHE
People always wanted this back in the forza series to race with, and then theres people saying its impossible because it burned down, as if game makers dont also make cars from scratch or other cars that dont actually exist. Was always fun in a game that had it
fun fact: my wheels are designed to remind the shapes of the pistons on my H4 engine
so you are made out of wheels and pistons?very cool.
@@ChrisWijtmans I guess theyre mine even if they are not attached to my body? What kinda shrooms you on
Are you from south Africa by any chance?
I liked this video, but it would be ten times better if it was half as long
They could make a hydrogen version of it for the future. Or maybe a hybrid/fully electric to race, that would be incredible to see.
Jirre maat, maar jou aksent is sterk !
lol the BP logo, it was meant to fail. 😅
I forgot all about this car. It's a damn shame what happened to it.
We have spark and fuel ,smoke and flames.
.
The only thing more tragic than the loss of the furai was the accent in this video 😂
Sounds like Southerner trying to say Ferrari. Lol
It’s design language belongs to window vista era.Those dynamic curves and forms are outdated now in practically every field of industrial design,to my book why do MR cars always caught fire the most,corn fuel is not more volatile than race fuel
谷口さんのインプレッション見たい
As a person who had their top 2006 Rx-8 that blew it's engine it is no surprise the rotary blew.
You were a bad owner.
I had 156,000 miles on a 12a that never had the engine touched once. A wreck took it out.
Ahh youre obviously a hairdresser or a florist then lol. Rotary engines are designed to operate above 7-8000rpm.
If you dont rev them, they carbon up
LIKE ALL ENGINES.
Only problem was the newly designed side port Renesis for the Rx8 didnt deal as well with excessive carbon build up, as earlier model rotary engined cars.
Mazda didn’t intend for limp wristed owners to be buying the Rx8.
Even rebuilding the engine wont make any difference when you dont have balls to drive with!
UNLESS YOU OPERATE A RENESIS ENGINE THROUGH THE FULL RPM RANGE EVERY TIME YOU DRIVE THE CAR, AS IT WAS DESIGNED, YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS🤷♂️
You should have bought an Mx5🎉😂
Some people blow up rotaries,
Some never have any problems at all, funny about that 🤘
Top Gear test track, place to go if you wanna know if your shit is fire proof
It's easy to pursuit innovation only when it goes well. If you drop your concept at the first set back you achieved nothing.
It wasn't a concept intended for production. It was just a styling exercise for the marketing guys to show off. Mission accomplished.
@@xtnuser5338 ah I guess you have a point, I'm just being grumpy
This sounds like a guy doing a South African impression -
Really badly 😂
So a 3 rotor Renesis is possible
next tommy kaira :D
Id bet Rob Dahm will build one
the car was so advanced they Hindenburg it...
Don't say "FURA--I".
You must say "FU--RAI".
風(Fu-)籟(RAI).
Nooooo This Awesome cars As burned 😭😭😭 i am wondering why anyone talk about this car and i never seen recent pictures it BECAUSE IT BURNED NOOO 😭😭😢 i want to go see this car but i cant at good wood or in a musee