Mazda Cosmo

There have been several Mazda automobiles named Mazda Cosmo. All were GT cars, with the first proving a successful launch for the Mazda Wankel engine and acting as a halo vehicle for the new Mazda brand. Later Cosmos competed in the ultra-high performance GT market in Japan with the Nissan Skyline GT-R. The final Cosmo (1990-1995) was sold as the Eunos Cosmo.

The Cosmo name quickly became Mazda's halo name in Japan, and it was applied to many later premium sports cars. It was even briefly applied to the 929 in 1981.

1967

The first Mazda to wear the Cosmo name (called the Cosmo Sport 110S or Cosmo Sports) was the first rotary engine sports car. It was introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, and 60 preproduction Cosmos were produced for consumer testing in 1965. Full production began in May of 1967 and lasted through 1972, though Cosmos were built by hand at a rate of only about one per day.

Cosmos were built in five batches:

Racing

In 1968, Mazda went racing with the Cosmo. They selected one of the most grueling tests in Europe to prove the reliability of the rotary engine, the 84-hour Marathon de la Route at the legendary Nürburgring circuit in Germany. Two mostly-stock Cosmos were entered, along with 58 other cars. One major change to the cars' 10A engines was the addition of a novel side- and peripheral-port intake system: A butterfly valve switched from the side to the peripheral port as RPMs increased. The engines were limited to 130PS to improve durability.

The cars ran together in fourth and fifth place for most of the race, but the all-Japanese car was retired with axle damage in the 82nd hour. The other car, driven by Belgians, completed the race in fourth overall. This was to be the only racing outing for the Cosmo - the next Mazda race car would be a Familia Rotary (R100).

See also:

• Speed Arena History of Rotary

Series I

The Series I/L10A Cosmo was powered by a 0810 two-rotor engine with 982cc of displacement and produced about 110hp (thus the 110 name). It used a Hitachi 4-barrel carburetor and an odd ignition design - two spark plugs per chamber with dual distributors. A 4-speed manual transmission and 14in wheels were standard.