Wankel Rotary Engine

[Rick Hunter]

Just a bit of history, for you petrolheads

[youtube]Z-MY-LwmEWI[/youtube]

 

[tehdarkstar]

Nice video, but I can't help but laugh when the guy says Mr. Wankel... (I've never heard it pronounced in English before)

 

[cj10jeeper]

Interesting video.
Bit naughty because it pays no homage to the fact that NSU had a rotary engine in production in the Ro80 from 1967 to 1977.
Incredibly advanced but becuase they could never get the tips to seal properly the engines needed frequent rebuilds.
I guess 25 years later Mazda had another go.

 

[pvr]

Ah, the Ro80 ... beautiful car, my neighbour had one. Very advanced for its day, but as CJ10 mentioned - very unreliable.

To be honest, even the Mazda today is not the greatest version given the incredible thirst for oil.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Yes , it was beautiful. For those who have not seen one:

Remember of course this is a 1967 car and the basic style inspired a 1000 copies

(Photo from Wikepedia)

 

[Shipkiller]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Ro_80

http://www.ro80.nl/

 

[ay8306]

My wife had an '85 RX7. A fun little car to drive, but it was severely underpowered. The engine was a little finicky too, prone to flooding the spark plugs.

 

[pmeloche]

Of course, Wankel should be pronounced Vankel since it's a german name. 8)

 

[czechT698]

Great engine - the RX8 goes like stink!