Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Mazda Furai

Of all the Nagare-themed concepts that Mazda has released over the past two years, one stands out. The Mazda Furai concept was unveiled this past January in Detroit and it walked away with our internal Best of Show award. Built around Mazda's two-year-old ALMS Courage C65 chassis and motivated by a 450-hp, three-rotor Wankel juiced by E100 Ethanol, the Furai was a concept that stood above the rest. Part of that was due to its stunning design, but mainly because it was also runner. And run it does. We've already seen video of the Furai testing at a track in Japan, and now we get to experience what its like inside during a few hot laps around the Buttonwillow circuit. Hit the jump to check it out, and make sure your speakers are turned up to 11, unless you're still at work.

We got a small preview of the Furai Concept with a teaser photo released by Mazda a few weeks ago, but Inside Line has let the cat out of the bag with a full set of photos and more details about the car. The Furai, which translates to "sound of wind", is built on a Courage C65 chassis that was campaigned by Mazda in the 2005 ALMS season. It features a fully-running three-rotor Mazda 20B rotary engine that runs on E100 ethanol and produces around 450 horsepower. The flowing shape of the Furai was co-designed by Mazda and Swift Engineering at Mazda's design studio in Southern California. Expect the full details and tons of photos when we see the car in person at the Detroit Auto Show in just a few weeks. Until then, fix your eyes on the gallery of photos below.

[Source: Inside Line]

Click image to enlarge the Mazda Furai concept

Mazda has released a teaser shot of its Furai concept, which will debut next month in Detroit alongside the "heavily revised" 2009 RX-8. Its name translates from Japanese to "sound of the wind," and the car takes the design language introduced on the Nagare and applies it to what is literally a race-bred sports concept. The Furai, you see, is built atop the Courage C65 chassis that Mazda campaigned two years ago in ALMS. Power comes from a 450-horsepower three-rotor engine that runs on E100 Ethanol. As for the '09 RX-8, Mazda's announcement states only that it boasts an updated design, better quality and features, and improved handling and acceleration. The announcement now has us wondering if the spy photos that came out yesterday are actually the car we'll see in Detroit, and not the 2010 as initially believed. Finally, Detroit will mark the first appearance of the Taiki concept outside Japan. The Taiki, you'll recall, was introduced at the recent Tokyo Motor Show. We'll be there in force to cover it all.

[Source: Mazda]