Mazda Rotary Club

Only remaining example of 1000 bhp LNG-powered military rotary engine:

Always intrigued by the idea that the rotary engine was supposedly very flexible about the choice of fuel, which would make sense of a 'battlefield friendly' version. 300 million dollars of defence spending though? You would think there would have to be a good reason to write that off as a dead end around the time the world started getting sensitive to diminishing the use of petroleum. The video did not mention whether it was hideously unreliable or why there is only one left but as that is allegedly used as a generator, it seems reasonable to assume they will expect it to start when asked and keep running?  Interesting stuff - thanks. Any idea why it was dumped?

Don't know. I can't vouch for the info in the video clip being correct either. All rotary books I've read go very vague when it comes to military use of rotary tech. They'll mention it was done, but not what was achieved, how and why. So this was a rare little glimpse into the unknown for me. Must be more about this somewhere. Most importantly, it seems Mazda succeeded where even the military industrial complex gave up. Must count for something!  :great:

There were so many interesting prototypes
 This one, I havent heard before

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