The future of the Mazda RX8 is the Furai. Photo Gallery
Furai loosely translates to ?the sound of the wind,? and that affinity is evident in this windblown concept from Mazda.
Built on the chassis of the 2005 Courage C65 American Le Mans car, Furai is propelled forward by a three-rotor Mazda 20B rotary engine developing 335kW, and is tuned to run 100 per cent ethanol fuel.
While Furai is a snapshot of Mazda’s performance future, its present is represented this year with a new RX-8.
The timeless sports coupe has not been dramatically altered since its release in 2003; nor will it be in the near future. This revised RX-8 is almost identical to the RS model from the Tokyo AutoSalon – which itself was almost identical to the original. It retains its rotary engine and mechanicals with only minor modifications to exhaust and suspension, the exterior and interior have been mildly tweaked, and it finally features a six-speed automatic with wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
