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Home , Claus Luthe, Felix Wankel, NSU Ro 80, Wankel engine

ENRESO WORLD - I Lab

Istas René Graduated in Autmotive Technologies 8-10-2019

Introduction

This work is a tribute to .

His engine concept was completely different from the conventional engines and revolutionary.

Despite the engine was removed, some brands (especially ) and some other manufacturers still investigating for its disadvantages can not be converted to its advantages.

Happy reading

Istas René

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FELIX WANKEL

Inventor of the WANKEL ENGINE

BORN

August 13, 1902

Lahr,

DIED

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October 9, 1988 (aged 86)

Lindau, Germany

During the early 1920s Wankel was a member of various radical right-wing and anti- Semitic organizations. In 1921 he joined the branch of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund and in 1922 he became a member of the NSDAP, the National Socialist German Workers Party (or "Nazi Party") , which was banned soon afterwards. Wankel founded and led youth groups associated with a cover-up organization of the NSDAP. With them he conducted paramilitary training, scouting games and night walks. When his high esteem for technical innovations was not widely shared among the German Youth Movement, he was offered instead the opportunity to talk about the issue of technology and education to and other leading National Socialists in 1928. In the meantime Wankel's mother had helped founding the local chapter of the NSDAP in his hometown . Here Wankel not only rejoined the party in 1926, but also met Robert Heinrich Wagner. In 1931 Wagner entrusted Wankel with the leadership of the in Baden. But both soon fell out with each other, because Wankel tried to put a stronger emphasis on military training, whereas Wagner wished for the Hitler Youth to be a primarily political organization. In a particularly bitter and ugly controversy Wankel publicly accused Wagner of corruption. Wagner paid back by stripping Wankel of his office by early 1932 and managed to have him expelled from the party in October 1932. Wankel, who sympathized with the social- revolutionary wing of the NSDAP among anyway, then founded his own National Socialist splinter group in Lahr and continued his attacks on Wagner. Since the Nazi's seizure of power on 30 January 1933 had strengthened his position, Wagner had Wankel arrested and imprisoned in the Lahr jail in March 1933. Only by intervention of Hitler's economic adviser with Hitler himself, Wankel was set free in September 1933. Keppler had been a friend of Wankel's and an ardent supporter of his technological endeavors since 1927. He now helped Wankel to get state contracts and his own Wankels Versuchs Werkstätten in Lindau. Wankel tried to rejoin the NSDAP in 1937, but was turned down. By the help of Keppler, however, he was admitted to the SS in 1940 in the rank of Obersturmbannführer. Two years later his membership was revoked for reasons unknown. During World War II, Wankel developed seals and rotary for German air force and navy torpedoes, for BMW and Daimler-Benz. After the war, he was imprisoned by France for some months in 1945 and his laboratory was closed by French occupation troops. Wankel's work was confiscated and he was prohibited from doing more work. However, by 1951, he got funding from the Goetze AG company to furnish the new Technical Development Center in his private house in Lindau on Lake Constance. He began development of the engine at NSU Motorenwerke AG, leading to the first running prototype on 1 February 1957. Unlike modern Wankel engines, this 21 horsepower version had both the rotor and housing rotating. His engine design was first licensed by Curtiss-Wright in New Jersey, United States. On 19 January 1960 the was presented for the first time to specialists and the press in a meeting of the German Engineers' Union at the in . In the same year, with the KKM 250, the first practical rotary engine was presented in a

ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 4 converted NSU Prinz. At this time the "Wankel engine" became synonymous with the rotary engine, whereas previously it was called the "Motor nach System NSU/Wankel". At the 1963 IAA, the NSU company presented the NSU Wankel-Spider, the first consumer vehicle, which went into production in 1964. Great attention was received by the NSU in August 1967 for the very modern NSU Ro 80, which had a 115-horsepower engine with two rotors. It was the first German car selected as "Car of the Year" in 1968. In Japan, the manufacturer Mazda solved the engine's chatter marks problem. The engine has been successfully used by Mazda in several generations of their RX-series of coupés and sedans, including the Mazda Cosmo, R100, the RX-7 and more recently the RX-8. Mercedes-Benz completed its C111 experimental model in 1969 with 3-rotor Wankel engine. In 1970, the next model had a 4-rotor Wankel engine and could reach top speed 290 km/h but never reached serial production. Wankel became a success in business by securing license agreements around the world. By 1958 Wankel and partners had founded the "Wankel GmbH" company, providing Wankel with a share of the profits for marketing the engine. Among the licensees were Daimler-Benz since 1961, since 1970, since 1971. Royalties for the Wankel GmbH for licensure were 40%, later 36%. In 1971 Wankel sold his share of the license royalties for 50 million Deutschmarks to the English conglomerate Lonrho. The following year he got his Technical Development Center back from the Fraunhofer Society. From 1986 the Felix Wankel Institute cooperated with Daimler Benz AG. Daimler Benz provided the operating costs in return for the research rights. He sold the Institute to Daimler Benz for 100 million Marks. Wankel married Emma "Mi" Kirin in 1936. Though married until death, they had no children. He never had a driver's license, because he was extremely near-sighted. He was, however, the owner of an NSU Ro 80 with a Wankel engine, which was chauffeured for him. In 1969, Wankel was granted an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Technical University Munich. He was known for his championing of animal rights and opposition to the use of animals in testing. Wankel died in Heidelberg, aged 86. His grave may be found in the Bergfriedhof of Heidelberg. After his death, the Felix Wankel Foundation sold its real estate property to AG. The Heidelberg Fire Department showcases his last workshop. Wankel's papers are archived in the Technoseum in . Furthermore, there is an exhibition "AUTOVISION · Tradition & Forum" in Altlußheim, a permanent showing of over 80 rotary engines and many equipped with Wankel motors.

Honers and Awards

• Honorary doctorate degree from Technische Universität München, 5 December 1969. • The Federation of German Engineers (VDI) Gold Medal, 1969. • The Grand Federal Service Cross, Germany's highest civilian honor, 1970 • John Price Wetherill Medal, Philadelphia, 1971. • The Bavarian Service Medal, 1973. • The "Honour Citizen" of Lahr, 1981, and the title of Professor in 1987.

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• The Soichiro Honda Medal, 1987. • Honorary citizenship of Lindau (declined)

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What Data Based on a Mazda RX-8 RENESIS rotary engine-extensively. First of all, I wondered about the still very high fuel consumption of the engine. Furthermore, I read in the article: "it is a with two discs each having a capacity of 654 cm3, 1308 cm3 so total." {discussionpoint taxes}.Also there was the eccentric shaft rotates three times faster than the rotor.

A Wankel rotary has three rooms. In each room is set a four- process off (suction, compression, combustion, exhaust systems) without that there takes place simultaneously the same part of the four-stroke process. As the eccentric shaft rotates three times as fast as the rotor find one combustion space per revolution of the eccentric shaft. The four-stroke process is possible because the chamber volume changes from a minimum to a maximum, then again from a maximum to a minimum and so on. Thus, there are, just as in a normal impact piston, four volume changes with an associated phase or stroke of the four stroke process.

As the eccentric shaft is rotated three times, there has been a full-stroke process in one room. There are the RX-8 three bedrooms and two rotors, a total of six rooms. The total chamber volume is: 6 × 654 = 3924 cm 3. The power formula is: P = pxVxn / C.

Herein P is the power (kW), p is the mean pressure (bar), V is the total cylinder or chamber volume (cm3), n the number of revolutions (r / min), and C stands for the constant x conversion factor (6 × 100,000).

For each type of engine to systematically answer some questions before we can enter the correct power formula:

1 What is the average pressure during the combustion?

2 What is the cylinder volume, or the room in which the combustion take place?

3 How many cylinders or rooms are?

4 With what speed turns the or eccentric?

5 How many rotations makes the crankshaft or eccentric by combustion of one cylinder or one room?

The Renesis HP Wankel engine delivers 169 kW at 8200 t / min. If we fill in the power formula, there px3924x8200 = 169 / Cx6x100.000.

The constant C is a Wankel 3 because there will one combustion place every three rotations of the eccentric shaft. Thus, we can calculate that p = 9.5 bar, even at the maximum torque the motor has only 10.2 bar. That's not nearly get as high as the modern four-stroke reciprocating engines, because thereby comes p from 12 to 12.5 bar.

A low has a negative impact on fuel consumption, and it is thus a structural problem Wankel.

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What is special is that such a large chamber contents may be accommodated in such a small and light motor. That is one of the features of a Wankel engine.

Structure Wankel engine

's rotary engine today consist of at least two rotors. Each rotor is located in the rotor housing which is separated by a separating plate. In the middle of this plate is the hole where the crankshaft passes through it. In the picture there is the upper left inlet channel and the outer edge are the coolant channels and the holes for the mounting bolts.

Against the separation plate is on both sides the rotor. As with the partition plate sitting in the outer edge of the cooling channels and holes for the bolts. The illustration is in the left wall of the rotor housing the outlet channel. In the right wall of the house are the holes. Also there is a hole where oil get sprayed inside. This allows for the seal along the seals of the rotor.

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Through the center of the motor is an eccentric shaft. This shaft is connected to the rotor and is driven in that the rotor is displaced by the ignition of the fuel mixture.

The rotor is carried out in a triangular shape. At each corner of the rotor is an apex seal. This is a strip which provides the seal between the rotor and the rotor housing. Because these are frequently in contact with heat and friction that often fail. In the flat sides of the rotor are the combustion chambers. These are required in order to maintain a space between the rotor and the rotor housing. Indeed, there is needed a space where the fuel mixture to pass through during rotation of the rotor and the build up of pressure. In the middle of the rotor is connected to a toothing which is connected with a fixed gear wheel. This crankshaft are forced to rotate around the eccentric shape. Depending on the ratio between the number of teeth of the rotor, and the crankshaft rotates, the shaft around a few times per rotation of the piston itself.

By the outer rotor come home plate. This shut off the engine, creating a closed space in the house. In these plates are, as in the housing and the partition plate, cooling channels and holes for the bolts to connect the whole. On the outer housing plates is fixed a fixed gear teeth which become associated with the teeth of the rotor. Because these teeth on the housing stationary crankshaft is forced to rotate.

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Operation rotary engine

There are three chambers created between the wall of the rotor housing and the triangular shape of the rotor. Each room has one of the stroke processes in place. As we know, the piston one cycle every two revolutions of the crankshaft. Due to the triangular shape of the rotor, the rotary engine has three cycles per rotation of the eccentric shaft.

At the moment when the rotor starts to rotate, there is created a vacuum. As the rotor rotates further goes inlet channel opens and the fuel mixture is drawn into the house. The rotor continues to rotate, and the inlet duct is closed off. This is the beginning of the compression in the next chamber of the rotor housing. At the moment when the space between the rotor and the rotor housing is the smallest, compression is the greatest. The flat side of the rotor, is now in parallel to the wall of the rotor housing. At this time the spark plugs ignite the fuel mixture. This results in the force that further presses the rotor and the space is larger again. At the time that the outlet channel is released by the rotor, the exhaust gases are pressed out of the motor.

As seen in the picture above, there are several processes take place simultaneously in the motor. At the moment the ignition, the intake stroke is in progress found in the 2nd room in the 1st room and the 3rd room the exhaust stroke. As the rotor continues with the compression stroke in the 2nd room the exhaust stroke and engaged in the 3rd room starts an intake stroke again. This is followed in the 1st chamber, the ignition, but at this moment is the 2nd chamber is in the exhaust stroke. The 3rd chamber is at the end of the intake stroke and starts the compression of the fuel mixture. Finally takes place the exhaust stroke and the 2nd room is busy with the intake stroke to start the compression. In the 3rd room concerns the fuel mixture is ignited. Since the Wankel engine is fitted with a double rotor There is almost always an ignition place making the rotary engine with a small volume produces a relatively large capacity.

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Advantages and disadvantages

An advantage of the rotary engine is that the outer dimensions by the build-up are a lot smaller with respect to the piston engine. As a result, the design possibilities of the vehicle are clearly higher. The Wankel engine has a relatively flat torque curve. Of course, the Wankel engine by the rotation less affected by vibrations than the piston engine with the up-and-down motion. Finally, the technique is much less complex in that the motor includes relatively few moving parts.

Of course, there are also disadvantages to the Wankel motor. The rotor of the triangular corners are still responsible for the sealing of the different rooms. These angles are therefore subject to wear. Due to a bad seal could, for instance, of non-combusted mixture to be pushed out of the outlet which is obviously bad for the environment. A greater disadvantage is the relatively high fuel consumption. The engine would be about just consume as much fuel as a big . Because the apex seals must be lubricated at the corners of the rotor in order to reduce wear, oil is injected into the . This is obviously less beneficial for both emissions and oil consumption.

A Diesel rotary engine? YES

Rolls-Royce has made an attempt to combine diesel and shaky technique together. The idea was to build a compact engine for tanks that supplied enough power to move tons of steel and munitions. There were some major obstacles in creating this engine. For diesel engines, namely, a high compression is required, so that the air is hot enough, and the pressure is high enough to ignite after the injection of diesel fuel itself. The solution used for this was a Rolls-Royce in the form of an additional rotor.

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In the illustration above, it can be seen that the two disks are placed one below the other. The top drive generates the output. The lower disc is designed to the air that is sucked into the motor through the inlet port to the compression. This air is forced through a narrow channel to the upper disc, where the combustion will take place. As can be seen, the upper disc is a bit smaller so that the air is still compressed even more. After this, the diesel fuel is injected and the mixture ignited. The force released hereby transferred to the crankshaft.

This engine has remained at a prototype that finances threw a spanner in the works, the project will be suspended for this engine well and it was tested in practice.

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The wankelcycle: inlet (cyan); compression (green); ignition (red); exhaust (yellow).

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Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of the rotary engine are the compact construction, the enormous acceleration and a minimum of moving parts, which makes low production costs possible. Because the ignition energy is immediately converted into a rotating movement, this motor is very low-vibration. After all, the conventional combustion engine converts the combustion energy into a rotating movement (crankshaft) via a translating movement (). Disadvantages of the rotary engine are a higher oil consumption, caused by the over-lubrication of the engine, a relatively high fuel consumption and rapid wear at the tips of the disc.

In 1964 the NSU car brand introduced the first car with a rotary engine, the Wankelspider. NSU further improved the engine and introduced the more famous NSU Ro 80 in 1967. It turned out to be quite a challenge for a relatively small car manufacturer to keep following this path. Initially the engines had a lot of problems, in combination with a five-year warranty on the engines, this caused the brand to run into financial problems and was taken over by the Volkswagen Group.

The contribution to the development of the rotary engine of the Japanese brand Mazda is very substantial. In 1967 Mazda's rotary engine made its debut in the Cosmo Sport 110S, a lightweight compact . Mazda itself uses the name "rotary engine". The design of this engine dates back to 1961, but development actually started in 1940, with the improvements Ralph Miller made to the . After the Cosmo Sport, Mazda continued to develop the rotary engine and new models with this engine were constantly being introduced to the market. After the Cosmo Sport came the R100, the first Mazda that was exported to the United States. Then came the R130, the RX-2 'Capella', the RX-3 'Savanna', the RX-4, the 'Roadpacer', the RX-5 Cosmo AP, the RX-7 and finally the current RX-8 with the Renesis motor that won some prizes at its launch in 2003. In racing, Mazda achieved a very remarkable result with the rotary engine in 1991 by winning the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Mazda 787-55.

Mercedes-Benz experimented with the rotary engine from 1962 until the early 1970s. They built both small rotary engines for their sedans, but also two larger ones for a prototype called the Mercedes-Benz C111. In 1969 it was first a model with 3 rotors, good for 280 hp and in 1970 a model with 4 rotors that delivered a maximum of more than 400 hp. There is also a rotary engine built into a Mercedes 350SL, which with 320 hp delivered over 120 hp more than the standard 3.5 litre V8, but was also 60 kilos lighter. This car was given as a gift to Felix Wankel, although he never had a driver's license. Due to the oil crisis, a Mercedes with a rotary engine never went into production.

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The French brand also experimented with the rotary engine. To this end, the association Comotor in Luxembourg was set up with NSU. Citroën was looking for 500 loyal customers who were prepared, under the watchful eye of the company and with the guarantee of optimal service possibilities, to drive 30 000 km or more a year with the M35, produced since 1 January 1970. It was a prototype derived from the then AMI 8 model, a 2+2 coupé with hydraulic suspension like the Citroën DS, and equipped with a 497.5 cm³ rotary engine, good for 49 hp at a speed of 5500/minute, and a top speed of 144 km/h. In the end, only 267 of them were produced between 1970 and 1971.

After that, Citroën took it a step further: in 1973, the faltering experiment was continued with the so-called GS Birotor. The engine had two rotors (in fact the doubling of the M35 engine) with a total capacity of 995 cm³: it delivered 107 hp at 6500 rpm, with a top speed of 175 km/h. The rotary engine did provide a quiet and fast version of the popular GS model, but the fuel consumption was very high, and that certainly did not make the sales (from February 1974, in the middle of the oil crisis) a success. Because Citroën realised that the project would not be a success, production of the GS birotor was stopped as early as 847 units in 1975, without the development of a new bodywork, which had been the original intention. The copies in circulation have been recovered as far as possible. As a result, specimens of the GS Birotor are extremely rare, and correspondingly expensive.

General Motors also developed a rotary engine, but decided in September 1974 to postpone the introduction indefinitely.

East German Wartburg also experimented with the rotary engine.

Since 1977 the Japanese Mazda has been the only car company in the world that still uses the rotary (or rotary) engine to drive its wheels.

After more than 30 years of taking the rotary engine out of service, reintroduced it in March 2010 in the e-tron. The rotary engine (15 kW, displacement 254 cc) is not connected to the wheels, but charges the battery of the electric motor (75 kW) on which the A1 primarily runs. The light and low-vibration rotary engine consumes less than 2 litres of petrol per 100 km.

THE NSU RO80

The NSU Ro 80 is a four-door, front-engine manufactured and marketed by the West German firm NSU from 1967 until 1977. Noted for innovative, aerodynamic styling by and a technologically advanced powertrain, the Ro 80 featured a 84 kW (113 bhp), 995 cc twin-rotor Wankel engine driving the front wheels through a semi-automatic with an innovative vacuum operated clutch system. Engine dimensions (Comotor units): length 16.22 in. -412 mm; width 13.5 in. -340 mm, height 13.5 in. -340 mm, weight 223 pounds -101 kg. Power: 107 HP at 6'500 rpm; torque: 14 mKg at 3.000 rpm (all figures approximate). The Ro 80 was voted Car of the Year for 1968 and 37,398 units were manufactured over a ten- year production run, all in a single generation.

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RUNNING GEAR

Other technological features of the Ro 80, aside from the powertrain, were the four wheel ATE Dunlop disc brakes, which were generally only featured on expensive sports or luxury saloon cars. The front brakes were mounted inboard, reducing the unsprung weight. The suspension was independent on all four wheels, with MacPherson struts at the front and semi-trailing arm suspension at the rear, both of which are space-saving designs commonly used today. Power assisted ZF rack and pinion steering was used, again foreshadowing more recent designs.

TRANSMISSION

The car featured an automatic clutch which was commonly described as a three-speed semi- automatic gearbox: there was no clutch pedal, but instead, touching the gear lever knob operated an internal electric switch that operated a vacuum system which disengaged the clutch. The gear lever itself then could be moved through a standard "H pattern" gate.

STYLING

The styling, by Claus Luthe who was head of design at NSU and later BMW, was considered very modern at the time; the Ro 80 has been part of many gallery exhibits of modern industrial design. The large glass area foreshadowed 1970s designs such as Citroën's. The shape was also slippery, with a drag coefficient of 0.355 (very low for the era). This allowed for a top speed of 112 mph (180 km/h. Indeed, comparisons have been drawn between the design of the Ro 80 and the aerodynamic 1982 built in the same factory some 15 years later.

EVOLUTION

The company's limited resources focused on improving the reliability of the rotary engine, with much attention given to the material used for the three rotor tips (apex seals) for the oval- like epitrochoid-shaped rotor housing that sealed the combustion chambers. A feature of the engine was its willingness to rev quickly and quietly to very high engine speeds, but it was precisely at these high speeds that damage to key engine components occurred: all Ro 80s came with a rev counter, but cars produced after 1971 also came with an "acoustical signal" that warned the driver when the engine was rotating too fast. The Ro 80 remained largely unchanged over its ten year production. From September 1969 the rectangular headlights were replaced with twin halogen units, and air extractor vents appeared on the C- behind the doors. In August 1970 a slightly reshaped plastic grill replaced the metal grill of the early cars, and a minimal facelift in May 1975 saw the final cars getting enlarged rear lights and rubber inserts in the bumpers which increased the car's overall length by 15 mm to 4,795 mm. The placement of the rear license plate was also changed from below the bumper to above it. This resulted in the bootlid lock being repositioned to the rear lip of the bootlid itself, instead of just below it.

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UNRELIABILITY

The car developed an early reputation for unreliability. The Ro 80 engine in particular suffered from construction faults, among many other problems, and some early cars required a rebuilt engine before 50,000 kilometres (31,000 mi), with problems arising as early as 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi). Originally, the rotor tip seals were made in three pieces, out of the same material. The motor's design caused the center section to wear more quickly at cold starts compared to the other pieces; the worn center pieces allowed the two other parts of the seal to move, which in turn allowed combustion products to escape the seals. The tip seal center piece was then redesigned using ferrotic material, and the problem was entirely resolved. The fact that the rotary engine design had inherently poor fuel economy (typically 13-16 l/100 km) and a poor understanding of the Wankel engine by dealers and mechanics did not help this situation. By the 1970 model year, most of the reliability issues had been resolved, but a necessarily generous warranty policy and damage to the car's reputation had undermined NSU's financial situation irreparably. NSU was acquired by Volkswagen in 1969, and merged with to create the modern day Audi company.

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PRODUCTION

Series production began in October 1967 and the last examples came off the production line in April 1977. During 1968, the first full year of production, 5,986 cars were produced, increasing to 7,811 in 1969 and falling slightly to 7,200 in 1970. After this output declined, to about 3,000 - 4,000 per year for the next three years. The relatively high fuel consumption of the rotary engine worked against the car after the dramatic fuel price rises accompanying the oil crisis of 1973, and between 1974 and 1976 annual production came in well below 2,000 units. In total 37,398 Ro80s were produced during the ten-year production run. Ultimately, it was the contrasting success of the similarly-sized Audi 100 that sealed both the fate of the Ro 80, and the NSU brand as a whole within the Auto Union-NSU combine, as parent company Volkswagen began nurturing Audi as its performance-luxury brand in the late 1970s. After the discontinuation of the Ro 80 in 1977, the plant was switched over entirely to producing Audi's C- and D- platform vehicles (the 100/200, and later the and A8), and the NSU brand disappeared from the public eye.

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OTHER CARS WITH A WANKELENGINE

NSU Spider (1964)

Felix Wankel had already finished his first working engine in 1954, but it would take some time before the first car would come to the market with rotary engine. The first brand that was provided by technology itself lead NSU. The NSU Spider was in itself not so progressive. The car was even designed to have a simple four-cylinder under the hood. In 1964 the Spider was launched, with a enkelschijfs rotary engine, good for 50th all horses. Finally, there are 2,375 copies built.

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Mazda 110S (1967)

A true icon. The design was called very original, see it as the LF-A of his time. Like the Super- made Lexus the 110S like touring. Maximum power of the rotary engine was on tweeschijfs 110HP, certainly not wrong in his time. There are constructed two series. The first was the L10- A. Second, the L10-B had a five-speed, longer wheelbase, power brakes, 15 "wheels and with a more powerful engine (128pk) a top speed of nearly 200 km / h!

NSU Ro80 (1967)

The Ro80 NSU had a winner and catastrophe in one. The car was his time actually ahead anyway in design. In addition, the Ro80 Car of the Year 1968 was tweeschijfs The engine was only 1 liter big but did 113pk. It was released through a semi-automatic to the front wheels. The Ro80 was quite popular, there were 37 398 sold. That brings us to the catastrophic part, the reliability

ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 21 was not too good giving NSU enormous warranty claims received in the cup pants and went under. Ancestor of the Audi A4.

Citroen M35 (1969)

with a right-hand prototype. In the time that manufacturers have good times going in terms of technical solutions, Citroën came with the M35. They were not really sold, Citroen offered them to loyal customers to see what they thought of it. Instead of having the French left it so testing over to potential customers. As soon found that the quality of the 267 copies were not up to standard and tried to retrieve all the M35's, with moderate success. There seem to be because even a few in private hands.

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Mercedes-Benz C111-I (1969)

Not only Citroën went at it in terms of application technique, Mercedes was there but with some pressure. Where Citroen testing left to potential customers, Mercedes chose wisely to do it yourself. It was tested with diesel, turbo and rotary motors. In 1969, the C111 had a drieschijfs rotary engine, a year later that a rotor there making capacity increased to 369pk. Top speed was 290 km / h. In 1970! Not only technologically, the C111 was his time windscreen, the design can still get along by following a few small wijzgingen. For the second and third generation C111, the Wankel engine was thrown overboard. The advantages did not outweigh the disadvantages.

Chevrolet Corvette XP-495

Choosing Wankel Specialist @MauritsH. Because this car deserved its own article, we'll keep it short. The last 10-15 years GM is investigating whether it is not better idea to give a mid-engine layout of the Corvette. New this idea, because the XP program is started in the mid 60s. One of the exponents of this program is the XP-495. This had two tweeschijfs roatiemotoren which were actually intended for the , but it never came. The power can today still join by: 420hp.

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Citroën GS Birotor (1971)

After the debacle of the M35 would think that Citroen would be ready with rotary experiments. Nope. Citroen even started a joint venture with NSU to focus on the production of rotary engines, known Comotor project. The M35 was a successor in the form of the GS Birotor. Thanks to legislation Birotor could provide a unique place in the market because of the high power with a small displacement. However, it was a tragedy. The Birotor was just as expensive as a luxury dressed DS and spent more, while it was just a small . 847 copies were sold. Like NSU Citroen tried to buy back all copies to prevent enormous warranty claims.

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Mazda Roadpacer AP (1975)

This is the recommendation of @Dizono! Perhaps the biggest motor-car mismatch of the last century (although that honor actually belongs to the Corolla T-Sport). The Mazda Roadmaster was not really a Mazda, but . Holden built a premier without motor and shipped it to Japan. There, a 13B engine was inlaid with 130 hp. The 13B drank more than the V8's which were available and had a serious shortage of torque. Completely failed? No, not that. Because it was a good step towards more luxurious cars. So you could also control the stereo from the back (would pose a great stress during holiday trips) and was the Roadmaster AP central locking which itself above 10 km / h activated. There are 800 units built during the oil crisis, mainly to government agencies. In New Zealand runs a copy around 1,000 hp ...

Mazda RX-7 Turbo Savanna (1983)

The rotary engine was an odd man out. Yes, a lot of power in a small displacement, but the couple was always quite low. To remedy this was that other invention of the 70s a result, the . The first RX-7 which was blown from the SA generation (Savanna in Japan). With 165 hp give the RX-7 not so much extra power, but the extra newton meters were very welcome, without consumption suffered. It just remained high.

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Mazda Eunos Cosmo (1990)

The legendary 110S has had several successors. Several Cosmo's been available with a rotary engine, but also a conventiële engine pistons in cylinders and so ... With the latest generation of the Eunos Cosmo was not the case however. You could choose from two different engines. Cosmo (JC) of the fourth generation in 1990 was a showcase to demonstrate that Mazda was capable. The 13B-RE was known of the RX-7 and did fine. But for the JC Mazda also had a special pad on sale, namely trirotor 20B-REW. Combined with twin gave this version 300hp and perhaps more important, 407nm. Also, the Cosmo of this generation was the first vehicle with a navigation system. In 1990.

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Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (2002)

The ultimate RX-7. RX-7 have been many Special Editions. The Spirit R Type A had combined all options. So with Bilstein dampers, BBS wheels and the powerful engine variant. Do not make the mistake to settle for a Type C, because they are equipped with a four-speed automatic transmission that brings out all the speed. Over 280pk, perfect weight distribution and a fantastic chassis. Actually much better than the 968 Club Sport that is now so popular. The RX- 8 Spirit R was also uitzwaaimodel.

Mazda RX-8 R3 (2009)

So far, the latest RX-8 that you could buy just the showroom. Indeed, this was the last car with Wankel engine in the price lists. Like the RX-7 Spirit R Type A had the R3 all options of the previous Special Edition RX-8s. In the UK there are a number of sold in the Netherlands this model unfortunately been removed from the range. Thanks to the CO2 tax was the RX-8 unsaleable.

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Mazda RX Vision (2015)

The absolute hero of the 2015. Even though they put a small in, he's still successful. Anyhow Mazda is already very well engaged in their production models (they make better than Alfa's ) but the RX Vision beats everything. A particularly elegant car, with a completely new type of rotary engine. Kudos to Mazda that they stick to this concept. Rumor has it that the RX-Vision comes on the market in 2017, exactly 50 years after the first 110S Cosmo hit the market.

Audi A1 e-Tron (2011)

The Audi A2 was a rare progressive car. Unfortunately made almost no one, because commercially it was a flop. Years later the A2 would be appreciated, especially because you could cheaply drive. How Dutch. This was partly due to regulation, but also because Green driving was commonplace only after it appeared that seemed to lie all banks. The current Audi A1, however, is nothing more than a Polo with another buggy and more luxurious equipment. There is an exception in the form of the A1 e-Tron. This was an electric concept with a . In

ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 28 place of a conventional cylinder engine, there was chosen a enkelschijfs Wankel engine. As in 1964. Audi was planning to take the car into production, as well as a fully electric A2, but eventually saw from. However, there is an Audi Q7 with a 435 hp V8 diesel. Called Vorsprung durch Technik.

The rotary engine was an idea that was explored by many. It is known that there were several manufacturers who indeed investigated but not brought out. Attention examples and favorites are very welcome.

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