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Geared towards drivers who race their cars competitively on weekends, the Furai concept is designed after an ALMS race car--but with an eye for environmentally friendly operation as it runs on ethanol fuel produced by British Petroleum (BP). The Furai rides Mazda's Courage C65 chassis which was introduced just two seasons ago. Power for the sleek, lightweight racer comes from a triple-rotor rotary engine with a potent 450 horsepower.
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Franz von Holzhausen heads up design work for Mazda's North American operations. Of the concept, he says "Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models--commonly called supercars--that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before."
"Nagare" is at work here--that's Mazda's trademark new sleek and flowing design language. The car wears it proudly, with some sensuous curves and elegant proportions.
Mazda's 2009 RX-8 sports car was introduced alongside a technical exhibit of its new-age Renesis rotary engine. The new car gets a facelift and some other minor changes.
Also on display was the Taiki, which reflects the possible direction the company could take for their future sports cars. It is also powered by a next-generation RENESIS rotary engine, and is a 2-seat, front-engine, rear-wheel drive vehicle.
photo:Mazda
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