Mazda Furai Concept, 2008
Furai is the sort of car that could only come from a company that incorporates the "Soul of a Sports Car" into everything it builds, but with an eye toward the future and the environment through the use of renewable fuels. Driving toward sustainability, Furai was initially tuned to operate on 100 percent ethanol fuel, the first time a racing three-rotor rotary engine has been fueled by ethanol. Research continues in earnest with partner BP into other renewable and future fuels, including ethanol gasoline blends like E10.
On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars road-raced in North America than any other brand of car. This is because every Mazda sedan, coupe and sports car really is developed with the highest possible dose of the company's trademark Zoom- Zoom - truly the Emotion of Motion.
However, Zoom-Zoom is more than simply vehicle performance. The look and style that is Zoom-Zoom can best be seen in previous NAGARE-based efforts, including the Mazda Nagare concept that debuted at Los Angeles in 2006; Mazda Ryuga, which was first shown a year ago in Detroit.
Instead of mimicking racecar components and design elements in a road car - the strategy preferred by supercar manufacturers - the "Mazda way" was to begin this project with the real McCoy: a Courage C65 chassis that earned its stripes during two seasons of LMP-2 endurance racing in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). This sports car was successfully campaigned under the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development banner by B-K Motorsports during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Drivers Jamie Bach, Guy Cosmo, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, and Raphael Matos piloted the car to one victory and a total of nine podium finishes in 15 ALMS events. B-K finished third in championship standings both years; Bach and Cosmo were co- Rookies of the Year in 2005.
The Furai concept serves as a turning point in the Nagare developmental process. While the four previous concept cars explored different ways to express Mazda's emerging design philosophy and to explore an aesthetic, this one is all about function - every last texture and detail serves some functional purpose. In essence, the Furai creative process boiled down to guiding air over and through the body in fruitful ways. To prove that this concept goes far beyond static aerodynamic analysis, Mazda's design, motorsports and R&D teams worked together to construct Furai as a 180-mph rolling laboratory to demonstrate its functional capabilities on demand.
"The basic proportions of contemporary race cars are every designer's dream," enthused von Holzhausen. "Furai is less than 40-inches high but nearly 80-inches wide."
While Furai strikes an incredibly strong presence, the real beauty of the project - and it's most valuable asset as a real-world test-bed - is in the details that von Holzhausen and his team incorporated:
Sourced straight from the race track, the Courage carbon-composite tub is essentially intact under the new Furai body, including the right-side driver's seat. Instead of the stark interior typical of race cars though, this cockpit is finished with more comfortable but still highly functional surfaces. An electronic display screen and shift paddles are built into the steering wheel.
In the chassis' original racing configuration, the passenger seat is filled with electronic gear, so those components were relocated elsewhere to provide adequate space for two occupants. The greenhouse is somewhat wider than the original cockpit to provide adequate head and shoulder room and suitable outward visibility. Doors attached with butterfly hinges provide a very efficient means of entering the cockpit. In this instance, the design team followed an approach that has proven very effective during years of endurance racing.
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.
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.
Ethanol is derived from grains such as corn and wheat or soybeans. Corn, the predominant feedstock, is converted to ethanol in either a dry or wet milling process. Future advances for renewable gasoline components include utilizing a wide variety of cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including agricultural plant wastes (corn stover, cereal straws, sugarcane bagasse), plant wastes from industrial processes (sawdust, paper pulp) and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production, such as switchgrass.
Furai has shown the Mazda team is the real value:
On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars road-raced in North America than any other brand of car. This is because every Mazda sedan, coupe and sports car really is developed with the highest possible dose of the company's trademark Zoom- Zoom - truly the Emotion of Motion.
However, Zoom-Zoom is more than simply vehicle performance. The look and style that is Zoom-Zoom can best be seen in previous NAGARE-based efforts, including the Mazda Nagare concept that debuted at Los Angeles in 2006; Mazda Ryuga, which was first shown a year ago in Detroit.
Instead of mimicking racecar components and design elements in a road car - the strategy preferred by supercar manufacturers - the "Mazda way" was to begin this project with the real McCoy: a Courage C65 chassis that earned its stripes during two seasons of LMP-2 endurance racing in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). This sports car was successfully campaigned under the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development banner by B-K Motorsports during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Drivers Jamie Bach, Guy Cosmo, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, and Raphael Matos piloted the car to one victory and a total of nine podium finishes in 15 ALMS events. B-K finished third in championship standings both years; Bach and Cosmo were co- Rookies of the Year in 2005.
The Furai concept serves as a turning point in the Nagare developmental process. While the four previous concept cars explored different ways to express Mazda's emerging design philosophy and to explore an aesthetic, this one is all about function - every last texture and detail serves some functional purpose. In essence, the Furai creative process boiled down to guiding air over and through the body in fruitful ways. To prove that this concept goes far beyond static aerodynamic analysis, Mazda's design, motorsports and R&D teams worked together to construct Furai as a 180-mph rolling laboratory to demonstrate its functional capabilities on demand.
"The basic proportions of contemporary race cars are every designer's dream," enthused von Holzhausen. "Furai is less than 40-inches high but nearly 80-inches wide."
While Furai strikes an incredibly strong presence, the real beauty of the project - and it's most valuable asset as a real-world test-bed - is in the details that von Holzhausen and his team incorporated:
- The body surface provides ample opportunity to feature core design elements such as aggressive headlamps and Mazda's trademark five-point grille.
- The headlamp trim pieces function as guide frames to help cancel aerodynamic lift.
- High-pressure zones just above the front wheels are relieved to serve the same end.
- The air flow package takes air moving under the front of the car and guides it inside the body to the engine-cooling radiators.
- Nagare textures incorporated in the side surfaces feed air to the rear brakes, the oil cooler and the transmission cooler.
- An under-car diffuser that begins rising aft of the cockpit helps draw the volume of air flowing through the heat exchangers and engine bay out the rear.
Sourced straight from the race track, the Courage carbon-composite tub is essentially intact under the new Furai body, including the right-side driver's seat. Instead of the stark interior typical of race cars though, this cockpit is finished with more comfortable but still highly functional surfaces. An electronic display screen and shift paddles are built into the steering wheel.
In the chassis' original racing configuration, the passenger seat is filled with electronic gear, so those components were relocated elsewhere to provide adequate space for two occupants. The greenhouse is somewhat wider than the original cockpit to provide adequate head and shoulder room and suitable outward visibility. Doors attached with butterfly hinges provide a very efficient means of entering the cockpit. In this instance, the design team followed an approach that has proven very effective during years of endurance racing.
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.
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.
Ethanol is derived from grains such as corn and wheat or soybeans. Corn, the predominant feedstock, is converted to ethanol in either a dry or wet milling process. Future advances for renewable gasoline components include utilizing a wide variety of cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including agricultural plant wastes (corn stover, cereal straws, sugarcane bagasse), plant wastes from industrial processes (sawdust, paper pulp) and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production, such as switchgrass.
Furai has shown the Mazda team is the real value:
- Racing Beat worked tirelessly to develop the world's only ethanol powered threerotor rotary engine.
- Mother's Waxes and Polishes supplies an extensive range of waxes, polishes, and cleaners to keep the car looking its best at all times.
- Together with Liferacing, AER developed a six-speed paddle-shift mechanism.
- Brembo worked with the Mazda team to ensure the brakes were as effective on Furai as they were in competition
- Sachs and Eibach worked together to bring an aggressive, but steetable, shock and spring package.
- Nippon Paint provided the amazing three-feet-deep paintwork.
- Castrol supplies all the high-performance lubricants.
- Mazda's 2006 and 2007 ALMS tire development partner Kumho created the special tread patterns necessary for Furai's tires.
- Wheels are from partner BBS, and are 14-spoke, centerlock aluminum.
- Seatbelts come from Sparco Motor Sports.
