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Guzzis @ Norton Motorcycles

You can see the faired bike in my earlier post but I don’t have a photo with the fairing removed. I’ll take some next weekend.
Here are a couple of the engine before I refitted it. I think it looks like an engine.

0C084762-428D-4862-99B4-D37A4D3FB185.webp C113F7CE-1690-4654-80FA-335190F0C916.webp
 
Pretty efficient in a bike actually. Far fewer moving parts and smoother running. Not meeting many emissions legislation though.

Yeh, I built mine precisely because it’s unusual. The Norton rotary was by far the best of the various bike rotaries.
 
I know this is getting off track, but a company has invented a new version of a rotary engine, where the rotor is "peanut" shaped and the track it rides in is triangular shaped (the opposite of a traditional rotary engine).
https://www.engineering.com/Designe...ankel-20-The-Return-of-the-Rotary-Engine.aspx
This looks really cool, and seems to solve some of the rotor tip seal issues of the traditional rotary.
How its Made did a segment showing how they build them. I thought that was really cool. This could help bring back the rotary.
Also, Mazda is talking about bringing their rotary back, but sadly as a small range extender engine for an EV.
As we move towards electric, internal combustion may throw a few cool curveballs.....
 
Interesting but not sure I see the advantage. Whether the rotor tips are staying still or rotating they have the same contact time and consequent wear. Keeping the mass of the rotating element as low as possible reduces centrifugal momentum and vibration/wear. A small and lightweight triangular rotor is bound to be more efficient. Rotor tip wear is now a thing if the past. Molybdenum coatings to the end plates reduces friction, heat, expansion and wear.

I can’t see how that peanut is cooled. The triangular rotor is essentially hollow so that either water or oil misted air can be forced through the centre to draw heat away.

I’m really not convinced about this development but will follow its progress.
 
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David Bracey said:
Interesting but not sure I see the advantage. Whether the rotor tips are staying still or rotating they have the same contact time and consequent wear. Keeping the mass of the rotating element as low as possible reduces centrifugal momentum and vibration/wear. A small and lightweight triangular rotor is bound to be more efficient. Rotor tip wear is now a thing if the past. Molybdenum coatings to the end plates reduces friction, heat, expansion and wear.

I can’t see how that peanut is cooled. The triangular rotor is essentially hollow so that either water or oil misted air can be forced through the centre to draw heat away.

I’m really not convinced about this development and will follow its progress.

Here is the inside of my engine before it was rebuilt. That oily black burnt residue was 100,000 miles of accumulation.
Click to expand...
The new design moves the seals from the moving rotor tips to the sides of the new peanut shaped rotor. The rotor tip is the weak link in the engine design, and the focus of much of Mazda's R&D trying to get the rotary to work. The biggest break through for Mazda was figuring out how to move the ports to the side, so the rotor tip and seal don't have to move across the ports. The new layout makes the seals stationary and on the sides of the peanut shaped rotor. So they don't move across the ports. It also has a much better combustion chamber shape. That is another weak point of the Mazda version. Poor combustion chamber shape means poor combustion, resulting in poor fuel efficiency and emissions issues. The Mazda design does better when turbo charged, as that helps combustion by raising the actual compression ratio and speeding fuel burn.
If you notice, the inside of the peanut shaped rotor is finned, and air is allowed through it to cool it. The current versions of this motor I have seen are air cooled, but it is likely possible to water cool it.
It may not pan out, but it is cool if they can make it work once scaled up. The small engines they are currently building would nicely power a go-kart or a large scale drone. A little bigger and motorcycle here I come.
 
GuzziMoto said:
The new design moves the seals from the moving rotor tips to the sides of the new peanut shaped rotor. The rotor tip is the weak link in the engine design, and the focus of much of Mazda's R&D trying to get the rotary to work. The biggest break through for Mazda was figuring out how to move the ports to the side, so the rotor tip and seal don't have to move across the ports. The new layout makes the seals stationary and on the sides of the peanut shaped rotor. So they don't move across the ports. It also has a much better combustion chamber shape. That is another weak point of the Mazda version. Poor combustion chamber shape means poor combustion, resulting in poor fuel efficiency and emissions issues. The Mazda design does better when turbo charged, as that helps combustion by raising the actual compression ratio and speeding fuel burn.
If you notice, the inside of the peanut shaped rotor is finned, and air is allowed through it to cool it. The current versions of this motor I have seen are air cooled, but it is likely possible to water cool it.
It may not pan out, but it is cool if they can make it work once scaled up. The small engines they are currently building would nicely power a go-kart or a large scale drone. A little bigger and motorcycle here I come.
Click to expand...

I've also heard/read that rotaries are being actively considered by mainstream mnufacturers as viable range extender units in electric vehicles such as the BMW I3 where a conventional parallel twin ICE engine (used to generate the electricity when batteries go flat), is heavy, noisy and large. Electric cars are really making everyone rethink what is acceptable in terms of noise vibration and harshness and the super smooth rotaries might find a new lease of life in this application, especially when you consider that as a back-up only system, rotor tip wear will be virtually non-existent for the life of the vehicle.
 
PaulDavies said:
I've also heard/read that rotaries are being actively considered by mainstream mnufacturers as viable range extender units in electric vehicles such as the BMW I3 where a conventional parallel twin ICE engine (used to generate the electricity when batteries go flat), is heavy, noisy and large. Electric cars are really making everyone rethink what is acceptable in terms of noise vibration and harshness and the super smooth rotaries might find a new lease of life in this application, especially when you consider that as a back-up only system, rotor tip wear will be virtually non-existent for the life of the vehicle.
Click to expand...
Word is, that is what Mazda are going to do. They are bringing back their rotary, but a smaller version made to extend the range of an electric Mazda.
I guess it is better than no rotary, but it is sad that the days of the 4 rotor Mazda 787B are probably gone forever.

That was a cool motor.
 
DeadEye said:
^^^
Incredible, awesome #&&@#%£¥€ - your favorite expletive here !

Perhaps the only *Real* race left in the world !
Click to expand...

Absolutely - balls of steel the lot of them. How do they concentrate like that for so long - one millimeter out and you're in someone's living room (or worse).

Just waiting for Hippo-Drones to take his V7 across the water from Anglesey and post his lap Video (I think the record 135+mph average speed over the 37 mile track is safe)
 
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