Mazda Furai Concept Set For Detroit Debut

Set to debut alongside the revised 2009 RX-8 (see here) at next month’s Detroit show, the Furai is sports car concept based on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car. The car utilizes the Courage C65 chassis the company campaigned in the ALMS series two seasons ago, and it is equipped with a 450 HP three-rotor rotary engine that runs on E100 Ethanol.

Mazda’s North American director of design, Franz von Holzhausen commented, “Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before.”