Mazda racer gears up for Detroit

Mazda has revealed it will have two aces up its sleeves at the 2008 Detroit Show in January. The first is the heavily updated RX-8 and the other is a race car concept called the Furai with a 450bhp engine.

Details on the RX-8 are thin on the ground at the moment, but those in the know at Mazda say the front will have a sleeker headlight design. Most of the changes have been reserved for underneath the bodywork, including revised suspension and work on the engine to reduce the amount of oil it consumes.

The Furai concept is based on the same Courage C65 racing car chassis that Mazda used in the American ALMS endurance race series. Armed with a three-rotor rotary engine, the Furai has 450bhp and it runs on a specially formulated synthetic fuel.

Mazda says the idea of the car is to bridge the gap between road and race cars. However, the company denies that it's looking at building its own supercar, saying instead that the Furai is one of many ideas it's looking at for future models.

Alisdair Suttie

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