Mazda Furai concept: first official pictures

By Ben Pulman

First Official Pictures

09 January 2008 09:37

The new Furai is designed to blend the boundaries between road cars and race cars, according to Mazda. The Japanese company claims that on any given weekend there are more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars pounding the racetracks of the USA than of any other make. And to celebrate this, and 40 years of the rotary engine, Mazda has given us the Furai concept.

Furai is Japanese for the sound of the wind – no fart jokes please – and underneath that swooping bodywork sits a carbonfibre chassis from the Courage C65 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racer.

The Furai is the fifth Mazda concept to feature the Nagare's 'flow' surface treatment, after Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki. The look won’t be seen on the facelifted RX-8 – which will debut alongside the Furai at Detroit next week – but we will see it on the new 3 due later in 2008.

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By Ben Pulman