MazdaSpeed RX-8 concept, redux

[Jason C]

An anonymous reader sent in the following pics of that White concept Mazdaspeed RX-8 that was featured in last fall's SPEED Magazine by Road and Track. This car fell off the face of the earth for a while, and we could not get any information from our usual sources on the fate of it. Now, here it is, being shown in a public location, a place that some hard core rotorheads should recognize. Enough talk, here are the spy photos of a concept for the Mazdaspeed RX-8


http://rotarynews.com/node/view/633


http://images.rotarynews.com/images/MazdaSpeedRX-8/images/dsc01567.jpg

Previous info:

This is a development project that members of Mazda's R&D team have been working on. Because our engineers also happen to be enthusiasts, they're never completely satisfied and they're always tuning and developing vehicles one step further. This car is not for general sale now or in the future.

We're not ready to confirm when - or even whether - a MAZDASPEED version of the RX-8 is coming. We're always looking to improve the power, styling and drivability of our vehicles in each successive generation, and we're certainly looking at ways of adding the MAZDASPEED-DNA to RX-8, but we are not ready to talk in more detail about it.

Mazda touched on some details about this particular car, though...

It is supercharged. Because of the location of the exhaust ports in the RENESIS rotary engine, it doesn't respond in quite the same way to turbocharging as earlier rotaries. Our team thought they'd experiment with supercharging for this project car.
Virtually everything on the car is custom-designed and built, including the bodywork, interior trim, suspension and exhaust. Our R&D team saw this project as an opportunity to take the RX-8 as far as they could, while still maintaining its streetability."

:eeps:

[lemming]

supercharging would work better because the car doesn't need peak power so much as it does some grunt in the first half of the powerband.

that would be a super cool car.

i've fallen off of the 'vette bandwagon for awhile. i'm thoroughly unimpressed with the c6, so i'm looking for something else to plug that role.

[dan]

the triangle-hood scoop is just dumb

and what's up with those fog lights? ugly just like the Cayman's.

Also ugly just like the E46 Aero kit that the HACK had. (sorry hack, I never liked the look of that)

[lemming]

whatsamatter, aty?

you worried it's going to look less tame but post a higher slalom speed than the elise?

:)

[dan]

why would I be worried about that? I don't take my cars slaloming

:dunno:

[John V]

The bodykit is horrendous (especially the mirrors) but if they really do come out with a supercharged RX-8 I think I'd be forced to buy it.