XR50 Wankel rotary cart engine

[CRF250X Rider]

The motor in this cart is sick. Its an XR50 Wankel engine. Its a rotary engine, like RX7. Its really little and has 50 HP. They talk about it in the video. Looks perfect for an MX bike.

[CORider63]

I think I like this one better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmxaORvBQI&feature=related

[Ttoks]

but are you gonna race that R1 engine kart? uh i don't think so, to heavy, that little wankle engine would weigh about what the throttle bodies and intake manifold on the R1 would.

the only problem with performance wankle engines is the seals on the rotor tips wear out fast, even on a small engine, other then that they're great little engine, and near on vibration free, great power to wight ratios less moving parts then a two stroke as well.

[byza_dog]

they do use a lot of gas though its just how they are for some reason. you can make lots of hp with a small engine aswel

[todthebod]

the rotary got a bad rap from the 3rd gen RX-7. Any one you ever find in Auto Trader says 'full engine rebuild at 60k miles'. It was like a kill switch when it hit 60k.

[CBus660R]

Rotary engines are cool, but not very practical for general duty use in cars for the most part. I give Mazda credit for trying, but you'll never get the reliability/durability like you can from a traditional 4-stroke car engine. In a high performance application, they do have their merits. Norton built a rotary Grand Prix bike in the mid '80s and Suzuki built a street bike in the '70s. As to an application for dirtbikes, I'd like to see it, but I doubt they would ever be truly competitive with a modern thumper or pinger.

[scalejockey]

Iv'e also seen one in a old mercury snowmobile. Strange!!

[CRF250X Rider]

But would that engine work in an MX bike?

[Ttoks]

given enough time was put into developing it yes, it would work in an MX bike, one 670 CC rotor from an RX-7 engine produces around 80 HP naturally aspirated, and is a lot lighter then a 4 stroke, and replacing the rotor seals cost's a lot less then a valve job on a 4 stroke, plus they lend them self to being very easy to turbocharge and supercharge if you wanted to.

a 250cc rotor would be at a guess around 40 hp, and again lighter then a 4 stroke, but still with the very linear power delivery.

[kennedy327]

I have always liked the idea of a wankel mx bike. how much do those xr50 engines cost?

[CRF250X Rider]

It sounds like it would be great. Why don't people try this?

[todthebod]

All of your cars have wankel rotary motors in them. In the seat belt assemblies.