Name: RX7 - Everything You Need to Know | Up To Speed
Uploaded: 2018-03-26T07:07:15.000Z
Duration: 7 min 37 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Affordable, sleek and light as a feather.
It bursts onto the scene just as the world

was recovering from the gas crisis. Almost
forty years later you can still find it tearing

up tracks and endurance races around the world.
For many cars you can describe the engine's

sound with a word like. Hum. Purr. Roar. They
were here to spend time with an iconic car

whose engine noise could be described as a
barrel of angry bees!

This is everything you need to know to get up to speed
on the Mazda RX-7.

It would be impossible to discuss the RX-7
without talking about its engine. A Wankel

rotary engine. What is a Wankel rotary engine
Pumphrey? The rotary engine works of the geometric

principle of inscribed triangles inside of
an ... f*** f*** dude. The rotary engine works

of the geometric principle of inscribed triangles
inside of an epitrichoid figure. Enormous

words to describe the slightly mesmerizing
movement of a triangle trapped in a pinched oval.

As the triangle-piston rotates it creates
three areas inside of the compartment. The

faces of combustion occur around the outside
of the triangle as it spins. The rotary engine

was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel
when he was a f*** teenager. Didn't get around

to actually marketing the engine until after
World War II while he was working for a motorcycle

company named N.S.U. Nebraska State University
holler! In 1959 N.S.U. invited a group of

engineers and leaders of the automotive industry
from around the world to see Wankel's rotary

engine. One of the men was Matsuda, head of
what was then called Toyo Kogyo and they had

made their money creating auto-rickshaws and
later trucks under the name Mazda-Go. Matsuda

loved the Wankel. He immediately licensed
it from N.S.U and brought the prototype

to Japan. He essentially bet the farm on the
engine. And in 1961 told his chief engineer

that it needed to be reliable and production
ready as soon as possible. Within the first

hour of running the prototype the motor ceased.
Within a few days it had blown itself up.

Yamamoto's job was gonna be a lot harder than
he thought. The main problem was the tips

of the triangular-piston. As it spun around
it left chattering wear marks on the inside

of the chamber. The team called them devil's
nail marks. It was only after Yamamoto had

a eureka moment while writing that they solved
the problem. Using graphite from the pencil

leads the created apex-seals. RX-7 guys you
know that word. And they gave the rotor smooth

movement around the chamber without chattering.
When all was said and done after eighty prototype

cars Mazda released the Cosmo Sport 1 10 in
1967. Their very first rotary-sports car.

The Cosmo and the rest of Mazda's rotary fleet
sold really well until the gas crisis hit.

Now these are the gas prices last year, these
are the gas prices this year.

the markets had recovered enough for them to debut
their new rotary sports car. The Mazda RX-7.

The RX-7 known as the Savanna in Japan was
meant as a direct replacement for the RX-3

series. The RX-7 ended up indirectly replacing
all of the other rotary cars except the Cosmo.

Mazda retired everything else in 1977. It
was inspired by the Lotus Elan and the first

series referred to as the SA because of the
beginning of the VIN series. It was a light,

two-seat-coupe. Mazda called it front mid-shift-rear-drive

since the Wankel 12A engine was sitting slightly

behind the front axle. This gave the car a
low center of gravity and good weight distribution.

She's a good-looking girl, she got good weight
distribution.

The RX-7 could go from 0 to 60 in 9.2 seconds

and ran at 100mph at six thousand
rpm. Unlike a normal reciprocating engine,

the rotary needed to be driven to red-line
on a fairly regular basis. Mazda actually

recommends running it to red-line in order to
both clear out the carbon deposits and to

keep the oil at the right temperature and
viscosity.

And what kid form the 70's and 80's couldn't
get behind a car with pop-up f*** headlights.

Come to think of it I am still behind anything
with pop-up headlights. All three series of

RX-7's were released in the U.S. with the
FB name attached to the series 2 and 3. Series

3 saw the introduction of the 1.3L 13b engine.
The RX-7 was already becoming a darling of

the club racing level. It was fast and very
light. And it handled beautifully. As long

as you had fuel in the tank because if you
had an empty tank it would spin.

In 1985 the year I was born Mazda redesigned the RX-7
for my birthday and the second generation

was born. This time they took inspiration
from the Porsche 944 and the FC RX-7'S were

closer to a touring car with sport's car highlights
than the first gen pure sports car. The series

4 produced from 1986 to '88 came standard
with the 13b DEI engine. With a turbo version

available with 189 horsepower. Mazda also
finally got around to upgrading to rack and

pinion steering. Which greatly improved what
could politely be called its tendency to over-steer.

It also traded out the clunky drum brakes
for discs and the series 5 inched up the horsepower

to 160. And finally to 200 with the introduction
of the turbo II. The coolest car in Initial D.

The FC was Motor Trend's import car of the
year in 1986 and the Turbo II earned its second placement

in Car and Driver's ten best list
as well.

But even after adding a convertible top the best RX-7 was yet to come.

In 1992
Mazda released the futuristic looking third

gen series 6 RX-7. Finally embracing its sports
car identity it came standard with a 13B-REW

sequential twin-turbo engine. The twin-turbos
had been designed in part by Hitachi and worked

together to give smooth acceleration. The
first turbo supplied extra torque at low rpm's

which had always been an issue for the rotary
engine. And operated between eighteen-hundred

and four thousand rpm. The second set on standby
until it reached four thousand. With the actual

seamless change-over occurring at forty-five
hundred.

The international community however was going
to have to satisfied with this last imported

version. Due in part to Japanese financial
crisis in the 90's. Ford took over as a controlling

interest in Mazda in 1996. The series 7 RX-7
released soon after was only available in

Japan and Australia. It's final iteration
the series 8 was released in Japan only with

a myriad of upgrades. More efficient turbo
chargers, better intercooling and radiators,

new lighting design, more comfortable seats,
17-in wheels. And more power.

But alas they were not for us. Mazda did introduce
the RX-8 in 2003 and we got it. For many Mazda

fans, the heavier less sleek and less powerful
RX-8 was no substitute for the legendary RX-7.

The engine was more fuel efficient and had
better emissions ratings, but at the cost

of less torque. Problems with failure on the
apex seals. And in some cases on the first

gen cars, total engine failure. Even increased
fuel efficiency couldn't save the RX-8 from

the economic crash of 2008. And it was retired
in 2012. While the RX-7 is no longer in production

it has left a lasting impression in the automotive
world and in all of our hearts. The RX-7 was

a constant presence in the 24 hours of Le
Mans endurance race. From its first missed

by a second to qualify in 1979. To its eventual
1991 dominance with the iconic 787b. Still

one of the most beautiful cars to grace the
circuit. The RX-7 dominated the IMSA GTU series

for ten solid years. From 1982 though '92.
And won more IMSA races than any other model.

It even made an appearance in eleventh place
at the world rally championship in 1991. Not

bad for a car three quarters the size of a
Corvette with an engine prone to backfiring

and burning through apex seals. Every few
years Mazda teases us with news of a new rotary

or a new RX-7. But so far they've not returned
their classic. Here's hoping that one day

they'll make it efficient enough to pass new
emissions standards and still retain the pure