This Six-Rotor Mazda RX-7 Will Make You Plug Your Ears and Grin

Like the voice of a god, this mega-rotary deafens its listeners and drives them mad. In a good way, of course.

byJames Gilboy|
Wankel six-rotor Mazda RX-7 kicks up tire smoke
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In the Wankel hierarchy, two rotors are for commoners, three are for nobility, and four are for royalty. That must mean, then, that the ear-splitting, six-rotor Mazda RX-7 (FD) being built in New Zealand must be for a god, because no mortal can survive bearing witness to its B̳̠̥R͙̮A̸̖̯͇̟̞A̞̥̲̤̩̱͞À̱A̟̠͇A͍̖̪͇A̦͕̻̫̼ͅA̛̟̠ͅA̪̟͙̼͜P͇̙̦.

The massive six-rotor Wankel engine is the work of kiwi shop Pulse Performance Race Engineering, which evidently developed it from the two-rotor 13B used in the Mazda RX-7 and RX-8. With triple the number of rotors comes triple the apparent displacement, which should measure in around 3.9 liters. That's about 10 percent smaller than the 4.3-liter V6 in a Chevy Astro. Because rotaries are famous for their power density, though, the six-rotor has no problem making 820-plus horsepower. That's over 200 horsepower per liter, which is normally serious turbo engine territory. It's also enough to blow out your eardrums if this video is anything to go by.

The shriek of the six-rotor sounds like a mix of a three- and four-rotor, with the former's buzz but the howl of the Mazda 787B. Admittedly, it's not that nice-sounding; it's a bit like a nitromethane weed whacker. But it's more than enough to put on a show, which seems to be this RX-7's purpose—other photos show it has an angle kit, so it'll probably be a drift car that could upstage Mad Mike.

If you're hoping to get your hands on one of these six-rotors yourself, we have good news and bad news. The good news is PPRE sells them through its site; the bad is that they require lots of custom machining, and the crate engines alone cost more than what the majority of us make in a year. No, literally; they sell for roughly $68,000. They also take up a lot of space, with estimates based on three-rotor 20B specs from Drifted indicating they're around four and a half feet long. That's almost a foot longer than the V12 in a Jaguar XJ.

Suffice it to say, getting one in your car will require making more than a few big cuts—not just to the firewall, but maybe your pocketbook too.

Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com

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