“One thing we learned from CFD studies is that we don’t need much rear wing to balance the down force created by the front splitter and the Nagare features we’ve sculpted into the body” offered von Holzhausen. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Irvine, Calif.-based Aria Group was responsible for creating new composite panels and they worked hand-in-hand with Mazda North American Operations' own in-house fabrication team to mate them to the Courage chassis. The dark matte finish with red and orange accents harkens back to the livery worn by Mazda's legendary 787B when it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991, making the company the first – and still only – Japanese company to ever win the endurance classic.

Furai not only probes future design possibilities, it also ventures ahead with alternative renewable fuels. Consistent with Mazda's recently announced "Sustainable Zoom-Zoom" initiatives, Furai's three-rotor powerplant has been tuned to run powerfully on ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and ethanol gasoline blends. There are exciting advances being made in renewable fuels, from current blends like E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) with research ongoing in making Ethanol from cellulostic materials, to future renewable gasoline components like Butanol, a higher order alcohol which is fungible with gasoline. The addition of these renewable components improves Mazda's understanding of how these fuels work with the company's technology. and reduces the consumption of fossil hydrocarbons and the emission of harmful greenhouse gasses.

John Doonan, Mazda's manager of motorsports team development, explains the thinking behind Furai's use of alternative renewable fuels: "One of our key technical partners in our motorsports activity - BP - helped facilitate our use of renewable fuels for this concept vehicle. Going forwards, we are working with BP to determine appropriate renewable fuels for the vehicle and potentially our team entry for the 2008 ALMS series. BP is a strong leader in the renewable fuels areas, recently announcing a $500M investment in the Energy Biosciences Institute, and we are proud to partner with them."

Doonan continued, "In 2007, ALMS required use of renewable fuels, so we're projecting ahead with this application to gain experience. BP has a very green focus in the marketplace, and it's Mazda's intention to sustain its Zoom-Zoom performance image on and off the racetrack. While Mazda's rotary has proven readily adaptable to various alternative fuels, including considerable work with hydrogen fuel, this is the first time it's been engineered for other renewable Ethanol blends."

Through the BP partnership, Furai has been specially tuned to operate on renewable fuels. BP engineers continue to work to optimize other fuels, including investigating new future renewable fuel components. This is Mazda's first experience with ethanol fuel in a three-rotor racing engine, and the results have been convincing that, once again, the Mazda rotary engine is unique in its ability to run well on multiple fuels.


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