Racing Engine with Four Turbos and Four Rotors Makes for Epic Mazda RX-2

Once the engine reaches a certain size, you need more turbos to pump air into the cylinders without lag getting in your way. That's probably why Ferrari doesn't make any forced induction versions of the LaFerrari. Despite that, BMW is reportedly working on a quad-turbo engine.

But forget all that for a few seconds, as we want to show you an entirely different kind of quartet of blowing instruments. Because this is a Wankel engine and not some kind of V8/V12, all the turbochargers are laid out on one side, which makes for an unprecedented sight.

Each turbocharger is connected to one "cylinder" of the custom rotary engine. In turn, the engine is connected to… a car, although we are not 100 percent sure what car that is. The netizen consensus seems to be that we are dealing with the Curran Brothers Racing Mazda RX-2 sponsored by Castrol Edge. The mighty Japanese car has been around for quite a few years and started out with a single truck-sized turbocharger.

The racing machine might be famous in its New Zealand home, but not a lot of people know about it overseas. The RX-2 is also known as the Capella or 616 sedan (in Europe).

Starting in 1970, the car was sold with either a 1.5 or 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 92 and 100 horsepower. Later on, the Wankel engine became available as a 1.1-liter option. In Japan, the installation of a rotary engine gave Japanese buyers a financial advantage when time to pay the annual road tax came, even though it delivered slightly more power.

The CBR Castrol Edge RX-2 has almost nothing in common with the original, since it has a 2-speed Powerglide gearbox with a 10-inch converter, 32x14.5-inch slicks and a fuel tank filled with methanol.