Features
Dark art
Nor is the Furai's similarity to those epic Group C racers of the mid-1980s and early 1990s entirely coincidental. Turns out that, along with the fabulous Bertone BAT cars, van den Acker found himself influenced earlyin his career by the likes of the Peugeot 905 and Porsche 956. Not to mention Mazda's1991 Le Mans-winning 787B.
"I saw them at a track in Italy, close to where I was working when I was a kid starting out. Actually, I heard them before I saw them. They were just the most sensual, beautiful- looking cars. Hopefully, this car brings some of that romance back."
They haven't ignored the Furai's cabin either - granted there's not much to it, but there's a sculptural sweep to the main binnacle, and a smattering of rotary motifs (the engine start button is rotary-shaped).
The transmission is a six-speed sequential, but there's an old-school gear-lever too, "just in case we had any issues out on the track", says von Holzhausen. Apparently, it's beefy enough to handle up to 750bhp. 'Sufficient', as they say.
'We've captured something really distinctive here, and we'd be nuts not to do something with it'
The tyres are supplied by Kumho, with a hand-cut tread pattern for a proposed road version, and full slicks for the race car. The brakes are Brembos, the forged alloys by BBS.
And it really does work. Mazdaspeed ALMS driver Ben Devlin was apparently apexing every corner at Laguna Seca in the Furai before he'd even completed a single lap.
The front splitter was chafing the ground so that had to be removed, compromising turn-in and downforce. Now how often do you hear criticisms like that levelled at a concept car?
So, could it happen for real? A rotary-powered Mazda supercar? A full-on Le Mans campaign with the Furai to the fore?
"Oh I hope so, man," says an impassioned van den Acker. "As far as 'Nagare' goes, well I can feel the hot breath of our competitors on my neck. We've captured something really distinctive here, and we'd be nuts not to do something with it. My message to anyone who says it could never be real? Please, just keep on thinking that."
Jason Barlow
Photography by Joe Windsor-Williams
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