Mazda Rotary Power in Atlantic

[tonyc]

Can anyone tell me the first year that SCCA allowed Mazda rotary power in Formula Atlantic?

[RacerDave51]

http://www.awrracing.com/pages/contact.html

[mousecatcher]

apparently, nov. 2004.

http://rotarynews.com/node/view/476

[Rennie Clayton]

apparently, nov. 2004.

http://rotarynews.com/node/view/476

I think he means Mazda rotary powerplants in general, not the Pro Mazda cars. In any case, FM predates the Pro Mazda inclusion to FA by around a decade. When I joined the Atlantic ranks in the winter of '97, Mark Rodriguez was already driving his rotary-powered DB-4 in SCCA competition...

Anybody know when the 12a was included in the engine spec chart for standard FA designs?


Cheers,
Rennie

[mousecatcher]

I think he means Mazda rotary powerplants in general, not the Pro Mazda cars. In any case, FM predates the Pro Mazda inclusion to FA by around a decade.

I didn't realize the [standard] mazda had a rotary ... i see it does. I also thought he meant "FA FA", as in, not any of the "subclasses" (?) like FM. Even then, though, I see rotary engines are allowed outside of the PFM, so my mistake!

[Stan Clayton]

Ren, IIRC think the Rodriguezes and Bill Fickling converted that DB-4 to 12A power in '94. The FMs with 13B engines ran in FA from, IIRC, 1985-ish through the 1997 season. For 1998 they were their own class. Stan

[J Leonard]

My 1982 GCR allows rotary engines in Atlantic. We had some 70s Marches and a Brabham running them back then. I think one even ran under 2 litre CanAm with bodywork.

[D.T. Benner]

I had a Reynard Atlantic that I was thinking about converting to Mazda rotary power. After talking to people who were running Mazdas at Atlantic power levels I was advised that (at that time) they were not saving anything over the cost of Toyota or Cosworth engine life. That and the Heat generated by the Rotary and meeting sound limits required massive mufflers.