Mazda prototypes abandoning the diesel?

Exhibit A: http://files.ctctcdn.com/db5636c9001/584a62f9-7a69-4344-81f9-fcc6b3170101.pdf

Exhibit B: http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/mazda-poised-for-switch-to-gasoline-engine/

Discuss.

Not at all surprised. I haven't kept up, but those things had tons of problems the first season they raced. I don't watch too many races and I can remember seeing them blow up on a number of occasions.

Audi got the limelight for winning at LeMans with protoypes, BMW got the praise for touring cars so it's old news. Diesel will never be as popular here as in Europe for passenger cars as both gas and diesel is dirt cheap here negating it's need. Even Europe is thankfully moving away from diesel for passenger cars and places like PAris are looking at banning diesel vehicles from the city center. Hybrids and all electrics are rapidly gaining ground where per mile costs matter and for feel good people who can't do the overall math. I'd put it down as a poor choice to begin with.

I want to build a Duramax-powered Miata, just out of spite.

A big factor is that the Mazda prototype program is North America-focused and Mazda hasn't been able to sell their diesel in North America. The fact that it's making the program more expensive and less successful doesn't help either.

Haha, I would like to see one of those frenchy electron farters tow my racecar to Sebring and back! Sincerely, a catholic educated, diesel van driver.

Do you think it might be tied into the failure to launch of the long-awaited US market Skyactive-D? Maybe it's really dead.

Also, it mentions gasoline power, but not Pistons. Dare we hope?

I will give Mazda credit for trying something different. Ultimately it wasn't competitive. With rules changes it was going to go away anyway.

As something of Mazda fanboy, I really want to see a competitive package from them for P2.

JohnyHachi6 wrote: Not at all surprised. I haven't kept up, but those things had tons of problems the first season they raced. I don't watch too many races and I can remember seeing them blow up on a number of occasions.

If I remember my conversations with Sylvain Tremblay (at the Rolex24) they haven't had many, if any, problems with the diesel power plant itself …most of the problems have been peripherals (don't remember what he said) …but the program wasn't so much to make the Mazda Diesel a wining P1 car as it was to be Mazda's long term high stress test bed … maybe now they're ready to try to re-create the prototype winner they had in the past, though I would rather see them back in the GT battle

P2 just seems to be totally irrelevant to me … you can't tell what manufacturer or any difference between the cars .. it seems like a spec class that no one gives a E36 M3 about

bastomatic wrote: Do you think it might be tied into the failure to launch of the long-awaited US market Skyactive-D? Maybe it's really dead. Also, it mentions gasoline power, but not Pistons. Dare we hope?

They're going back to the "MZR-R," but there's been 2-3 revisions of the motor since the last time they used it.

Neat motor.

wbjones wrote: P2 just seems to be totally irrelevant to me … you can't tell what manufacturer or any difference between the cars .. it seems like a spec class that no one gives a E36 M3 about

Manufacturers are not in P2. The idea is to have production like engines in cars customers can buy- then mix and match to the owners content. The manufacturers are to go to P1.

Neither are all that popular here in the US, so they get confused with the PC cars- which ARE all the same, and have to be added in to have a decent number of P cars competing.

Seems to me that the prototype pendulum has headed back to the time when the cars had to be sold to actual customers, again. Like the early 60's or late 70's or mid 90's. Prototypes can come back when people are ready for them. When the highest spec "production cars" are one off's. But for now, there's nothing wrong with LeMans being won by a production Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, Bugatti, etc. Heck, take the Bacplain cars and make them run 24 hours as the top step.

It's about time. That car has been a disaster. The slowest car in the series since it arrived. Only the Delta Wing has been less reliable. I doubt we'll ever see the diesel in a road going car over here (it was supposed to be out in 2013 iirc), so it doesn't make much sense to be running a "street" engine that isn't in a street car.

I wish they were switching to a race version of one of their new skyactiv motors (like the 2.5L with a turbo; how cool would it be to have a suped-up version of the next Speed3 engine running in an LMP2) so it would have relevancy to something they do in the "real world." The old MZR-R was a good engine in ALMS for Dyson and it's probably still capable but it doesn't have much Mazda in it. But if that's what it takes for my favorite team to be competitive I guess I'm all for it. It's not like the Chevy motors have anything to do with their street cars; I think they're essentially NASCAR motors.

bastomatic wrote: Do you think it might be tied into the failure to launch of the long-awaited US market Skyactive-D? Maybe it's really dead.

I forgot where I was reading it (maybe here) but Mazda had a lot of issues with heat management with the Diesel.

Apparently the street engine has the single exhaust port layout that is growing more common, and this was causing all manner of issues and they ended up making a separate exhaust port head just for racing. That's not very conducive to being able to say you race what you put on the street.

I cannot relinquish my sourcing but yes they are going gasser. Did you notice only 1 mazda p1 car at the last event? there is a reason for that...

In reply to iadr:

Their SkyActiv 2.0 would work fine in the CX9- we've got a 2.0l in the Edge and it drives darned nice.

And to Mazda's goal of making vehicles smaller- re-engineering the front of that car to just fit an I4 means that it can be smaller (and then lighter as well)- so without making the passenger experience more compact, they just saved a bunch.

I would be shocked if Mazda didn't have a few slightly larger choices, too.

Any one of which would make a good basis for a race car. Heck, since the big change is deck height, I'd go straight to 2.5l turbo- barely heavier.

I am bummed, I really was excited about the Diesel, but it makes sense and now they could supply other teams with engines if they so choose to with the Gasser.

They need 4 rotor braps.......but I believe that is still banned by the ACO from racing in Europe.