# ' Kenichi Yamamoto, Father of Mazda's Rotary Engine, Is Dead at 95' **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** mazda\ **Created:** [December 30, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780 "2017-12-30T21:05:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RandomTroll](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/randomtroll/32/12184_2.png) [@RandomTroll](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RandomTroll)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/1 "2017-12-30T21:05:04Z")
> **[Kenichi Yamamoto, Father of Mazda’s Rotary Engine, Is Dead at 95](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/obituaries/kenichi-yamamoto-dead-father-of-mazda-rotary-engine.html)** > > He led the engineering team that produced an innovative answer to the conventional piston automotive engine. He later led the company. Why didn’t rotary engines replace piston engines? ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/2 "2017-12-30T21:55:12Z")
May he rest in piece. The rotary engine was a brilliant concept. Unfortunately, sealing the rotors’ apexes turned out to be pretty much beyond modern technology, leaving the engines with great power-to-weight ratios, smooth operation, and an almost linear power curve but using too much fuel and oil to accomplish it. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/3 "2017-12-30T22:10:11Z")
> [@the\_same\_mountainbike](#): > > Unfortunately, sealing the rotors’ apexes turned out to be pretty much beyond modern technology, leaving the engines with great power-to-weight ratios, smooth operation, and an almost linear power curve but using too much fuel and oil to accomplish it. +1 Mr. Yamamoto surely improved on Dr. Wankel’s original design, but what he did was still VERY far from perfecting it. In addition to high fuel and oil consumption, those early Mazda rotary engines also needed to have the rotor seals replaced VERY frequently, which required a tear-down of the engine. ---
**Author:** ![Scrapyard-John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Scrapyard-John](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrapyard-John)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/4 "2017-12-30T22:15:27Z")
I had a coworker that had a late model Mazda with a rotary engine bite the dust. I’m not sure why or exactly what was wrong, he traded it with the engine bad. It was one of those sporty looking jobs with the rear suicide doors, can’t recall the model. It sort of soured me on the rotary engine, although I’m not in the sports car market stage of my life right now anyway. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/5 "2017-12-30T22:34:59Z")
> [@Scrapyard\_John](#): > > It was one of those sporty looking jobs with the rear suicide doors, can’t recall the model. That was undoubtedly an RX-8: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/8/d/8d466386be106b26b73bdcf0f1544bf4799ecafb.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Scrapyard-John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Scrapyard-John](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrapyard-John)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/6 "2017-12-30T22:37:51Z")
I believe that’s right. Was a pretty slick looking little car. ---
**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/7 "2017-12-31T00:31:31Z")
> [@RandomTroll](#): > > Why didn’t rotary engines replace piston engines? Mostly because of how terrible piston engines were not. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/8 "2018-01-01T04:48:51Z")
In addition to the short rotor seal life and oil and gas guzzling the engine had little torque. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/kenichi-yamamoto-father-of-mazdas-rotary-engine-is-dead-at-95/110780/9 "2018-01-03T00:17:47Z")
> [@oldtimer-11](#): > > In addition to the short rotor seal life and oil and gas guzzling the engine had little torque. At the bottom end, but once you wind it up… YAHOOOOOO!!! 🤩 Sometimes the best theory becomes the biggest challenge when one tries to manufacture it.