Speaking of sounds, here's a video of my buddy's old '58 bugeyed Sprite after he sold it when it still had the 3 rotor motor. Shortly after, the new owner put a turbo 2 rotor in it, but the sound of the 3 rotor hitting 9,000 rpm was awesome.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jtOLwF2J9b8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I guess awesome sound it like beauty, and we have very different views. I was at Road Atlanta when the first Mazda race cars with the horrendous sounding rotary engines arrived. That was just a loud BAD noise. I just don't think any rotary engine sound good, like chalk on a blackboard, it just makes a bad sound.

The V12 and 10 cylinder engines from F1 at 18,000 RPM is a scream that is amazing.

Enjoy your rotary sounds, I will keep them on mute. Just my opinion.Of course the very best sound from an engine is the flat 6 in the back of my 911. I love that sound. I will admit a remote possibility that I am a bit prejudiced about that. ;)

We started with a 2 rotor which screamed to 11,000 but was painful to your ears and just sounded off. The 3 rotor was a completely different glorious sound.

rotary RPM is FAKE
they triple it the 9k mazda is spinning 3k in the real world
but the tack is reading sparks not revolutions as they count 3 per turn

yes the sound in the IMSA era was horrible from the damm rx7's
esp at the downtown miami races where it echoed of the buildings

I like the sound of a 4 rotor. :):)
5 years ago a Mazda mech at the track said there was not many 4 rotor motors left.
Jeremy Barnes driving at Laguna Seca.
Back when Mazda sponsored the Laguna Seca track, Mazda would bring a few 4 rotor GTP cars and this GTO car.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CIwq71KZqbA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a5268/racing-race-cars-mazda-four-rotor-imsa-rx7/

We're getting off topic here, but the crank shaft and rotors turn at full RPM so I'm curious why you think they turn at 1/3 speed?

Daytona 24 hour race ......... Jim Downing Mazda Kudzu about 20 years ago . My ears stopped bleeding last week 😊

Understand. I still wince when I remember RX-3s and -7s at Riverside.

Loving "Drive to Survive" S3.

Just had to pop in here and say GAAWWW DAMMM!! Those firefighters have big ol' jangly watermelon sized balls !! And Grosjean's fitness coach is scrawnier than he is. How do these F1 guys get so skinny? They look like they need to eat something.

A few more impressions:

Can't stand either Lance or Lawrence.
Damn. I think Cyril Abiteboul did a hell of a nice job last year. And became a more likable guy.
McLaren team shirts make them look like an army of 6th grade cross walk guards.
Zak Brown is a PAINFULLY vapid conversationalist.
While Lewis Hamilton was potentially seeing Grosjean die, all he could think about was himself.

Agreed, Drive to Survive was really well done. Streamed the whole season last night.

mazda rotor speed rpm is not output shaft rpm
3x rotor speed is the E shaft speed by gears

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine

OK, so only the crank is spinning at full RPM and each rotor fires only on third revolution of the crank. Either way, at 9,000 rpm plus they're screaming. We could get into comparisons to piston engine only having the crank rotate at full RPM or 4-stroke only firing every other crank revolution, but I'll stop and get back to F1 :)


We started watching season 3 of Drive to Survive last night and it did not disappoint! I'm amazed by how much behind the scenes stuff is going on that we don't normally hear about but I also wonder how much of it is Netflix dramatizing it.

Back to Drive to Survive. Watched the first 4 of this new season. The Sochi GP episode was interesting with BOT mind game with HAM. Basically it seems like BOT gave VER a tow to allow him to beat BOT time. Guess he thought VER might beat HAM. interesting comment by BOT before that all happened where he said starting 3rd rather than 2nd was an advantage. And 3rd is where he started. Almost got by HAM on the start before the schmozzel brought out the safety car.

Fast forward to HAM doing his warm up start waaaaay outside the box and the argument is BOT suckered HAM into that mistake. I am not a HAM hater or BOT supporter. Just thought the way in which the film was edited was great.

The VET hit at Ferrari right before their big 1000th GP celebration was also interesting.

Liking this series

Watching episode 5 as I type this.

Well it's here ladies and gentlemen the start of the season . May Bahrain and all other events be safe and provide entertainment .

So far it shapes up to be interesting...
- Redbull is really competing with Mercedes.
- McLaren looks great
- Ferrari is closer
- Alpine and Aston are dissapointing. Haas is dead last, good for Williams !

I will wait until qualifying and the race to make predictions about the competitiveness of the cars

Yep ......... as of now no one really knows if anyone has shown all their speed. Tomorrow the picture will be clearer but Sunday is when the real performance will be shown . Anyone know if Aston Martin garage is already taking sharp objects away from Vettel ? 😁

I'm genuinely excited about this season :cool:

Grid has really closed up, not going to make any predictions but it's shaping up to be a year of hopefully extremely close racing of hard fought battles for all driver and team world championship positions

Whatever happens it should be interesting ;)

During FP3, Sky mentioned a new rule where post-race, the FIA will randomly pick one car for disassembly. Idea is the see how teams are conforming/dealing with the cost cap.

It will be very interesting to see how this goes throughout the year.

I'd like to see Sainz and Riccardo do well this year and fight for podiums and wins. Verstappen is sure taking advantage of his situation at the moment!

Tsunodo in the Alpha Tauri showing excellent pace !

Mclaren looking good with both cars . Ferrari fast but on soft tires . No surprise Mercedes pace is improved.

Perez, Ocon, and Vettel....OUCH!

McLaren looking like they're going to be shooting for 4th in the Championship, even if they get a podium or two. Ferrari has jumped them to rejoin RB and Merc in the title fight.

Wow. Didn't watch, but looked at the results. What happened to Vettel?

Mazepin brought out 2 or 3 yellow flags, Vettel got caught having to slow down and lost his best time, which still wasn't great. He his not at a good place.

Looking at the top five, Is Red Bull wondering if they need to rethink the way they pressurize their second driver? It feels like PG has unleashed the Kraken on his old boss...either that or he's learned all the tricks of the AT. Or both.

Great qualifying sessions. I'm hoping this is an anomaly for Seb.

To add insult to injury Vettel has been given a 5 grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement . So he starts last today .

Well, at least Seb can look forward to the fact no one will be able to overtake him at the start.
His race can only get better from 20th on the grid.

Best
Les

Excellent start by Mazepin ......... made it a solid three turns 😁

Mazespin living up to his nickname.
Is he the new Crashtor Maldonado?
Mazespin is the new Joker card, expect random yellow sectors.

Yawn. Beginning to question why I watch anymore. Sure it was closer but ugh.
So race control can't be bothered to enforce track limits until the pass by Max. And who was on the radio immediately to complain...
The pre race We Race as One bollocks was way too much. If they race as one, why does one driver have a different tshirt???

Now we know the real race pace . A 9th place finish for Tsunodo he looks like the real deal . Good race for McLaren and Ferrari .

Oh yeah...
Bottas being disappointed and thinking that he can win the whole enchilada is just getting old. I guess its good to aim high but it's more like he over estimates his ability and chances

A race to the end. Kudos to max for giving back the position. Surprised he seemed to lack pace after that.

Hamilton did a great job managing tires.

Well that was two hours I won’t get back. Just can’t believe with all the money spent only two teams can get it right. Epic and fantastic are what the announcers called it. Seems a reach

Leclerc might be the real deal. Ferrari is going in the right direction. Honda needs to find some more horsepower. Christian needs to be a little sharper.

I agree, race control needed to penalize Hami for all the times he went wide on that one turn (4?) all those times when he wasn't 'forced to'. If Max hadn't gone wide he would have crashed them both out as Hami wasn't about to 'give' no matter what.

Max did as he was told but was he correct to say he should have stayed out and stretched a 5 sec gap? Would he have won, or would stewards given a 10 sec penalty?

The interwebs consensus is the maFIA would have found a way to penalize Max just enough to give Hammy the win.

I saw a replay and it appears that Hammy wasn't totally on track during the pass either