Australian Turbo RX8 - RotaryNews.com

subject:	more info
author:	z3d
date:	September 25, 2005 - 12:35am

Firstly, they make it clear that Mazda Australia has no immediate plans to produce this car. They also don't quote power figures.

This car was built as a concept by Allan Horsley - the same guy that was responsible for several enhanced mazdas sold for the Australian market including the SP RX-7 and the turbo MX-5 (Miata) which had a fair bit more poke than the Japanese turbo version.

One of the main focuses of this car was to increase low end power.

80-120km/h accelleration test netted the following results -
Third gear - 3.0 seconds (4.6 standard car)
Forth gear - 4.0 seconds (7.2 standard car)
Fifth gear - 5.0 seconds (9.0 standard car)
Sixth gear - 6.4 seconds (11.1 standard car)

Quarter Mile times were 13.9 @ 170km/h with a 5.7 0-100km/h. (they managed a best of 5.4) They write that they didn't want to risk damaging the car with but mid 13's is about what it was capable of.

The turbo was a Garret GT30 liquid cooled ball bearing.

Shame they're not planning on selling it. I ended up buying a 350z Track after driving an RX-8 and just hating the complete lack of torque. When I took one for a drive, it felt about as sporty as the Corolla hire car I was driving. I've been a rotor nut for a long time and have been following the development of the RX-8 since it was called the RX-01, then the Evolve. I really wanted to love it....

I'll wait for the RX-7. Hopefully we'll see Mazda make a performance car again.

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