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To: equaviator

Actually, Suzuki had a rotary motorcycle that did not sell
well. It was a relatively large bike and had a very unusual look.

Evinrude outboard company (actually OMC, the parent company)
made a rotary outboard and beat everyone by a mile in a race.
They banned the engines because they were so fast and not considered fair.


39 posted on 09/24/2015 11:09:49 AM PDT by PDGearhead (Obama's lack of citizenship)
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To: PDGearhead

I remember seeing a 10-hp Sachs Wankel “MAC 10” outboard in a shop in Mississippi. Mid-1970s, I believe. I think the shop went bankrupt with that motor still in inventory (German-Italian outboards weren’t big sellers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast).


41 posted on 09/24/2015 11:20:41 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: PDGearhead

No kidding? If I could get one of those outboards on a bass boat...I’d love to try it out on Lake St. Clair.


42 posted on 09/24/2015 11:21:18 AM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: PDGearhead
Evinrude outboard company (actually OMC, the parent company) made a rotary outboard and beat everyone by a mile in a race.
They banned the engines because they were so fast and not considered fair.

OMC would have probably pursued the Wankel designs for ordinary consumer use, but by 1975 or so EPA was already making noise about wanting to regulate emissions on outboards. It was also around that time that those Kawasaki 2-stroke street bikes began coming up against bans in California, so the regulation death-spiral had already begun.

45 posted on 09/24/2015 12:32:04 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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