The was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

revealed on 27 December 2007 and designed by

Swift Engineering Swift Engineering Inc. is an American spacecraft engineering firm that builds autonomous systems, helicopters, submarines, spacecraft, ground vehicles, robotics, and composite parts. Swift used to produce racing cars for open-wheel racing series ...

and manufactured by

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

. A teaser image of the vehicle was released on 11 December 2007. The Furai officially debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Furai spoiler and exhaust

The Furai, meaning "sound of the wind", was the fifth and last of the Nagare line of concept cars that have been made by Mazda since 2006. The chassis was based on the

Courage Compétition Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the compa ...

C65

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

that Mazda last used to compete in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

, two seasons previously and was designed to use

E100 E100 or E-100 may refer to: Electronics * Casio Cassiopeia E-100, a pocket of knife PC * iriver E100, a portable media player Vehicles Automobiles * Baojun E100, a Chinese electric microcar * JMEV E100, a Chinese electric city car * Toyota Co ...

ethanol fuel Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was the ...

, it was powered by a heavily modified 20B 3-rotor wankel engine that produces . The engine was developed and built by renowned rotary tuner, Racing Beat, who also built the car's rotary-shaped muffler canister. The car wore the number 55, that of its

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

-winning ancestor, the 787B. Unlike many concept cars, the Furai was fully functional and was tested at various tracks. It ran at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho La ...

and

Buttonwillow Buttonwillow is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Buttonwillow is west of Bakersfield, at an elevation of ). The population was 1,508 at the 2010 census, up from 1,266 ...

. The head designer, Laurens van den Acker, had stated in an interview with ''Top Gear'' magazine that there would have been possibilities of the Furai being used for racing in Le Mans, and he also had strong hopes that the car could be brought to the market. The Mazda Furai also appears as a playable vehicle in various video game series such as ''

Real Racing 3 ''Real Racing 3'' is a 2013 racing game developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10 devices. It was released on iOS and Android on February 28, 2013, under the freemium bu ...

'', '' Gran Turismo'', ''

Forza ''Forza'' ( , ; Italian for "force" and "strength") is a series of simulation racing games for Xbox consoles, Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android devices published by Xbox Game Studios. The series seeks to emulate the performance and handling ...

'', ''

CSR Racing ''Custom Street Racing'' is a free-to-play drag-racing game by Boss Alien and NaturalMotion Games. In the game, the player takes the role of a new racer looking to gain fame in a deserted city ruled by five racing "crews". A sequel was released ...

'', ''

GRID Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News g ...

'', ''

Asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

'' and ''

GT Racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is o ...

''. Additionally, a die-cast toy of the car has been made by

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

2008 accident

In September 2013, it was revealed that the car had been destroyed by fire during road tests by ''Top Gear'' in 2008. On November 29, 2013, ''Top Gear'' was given the opportunity to make the story about the Furai's demise public. It was explained that the vehicle caught fire during a photography session at Bentwaters Parks on August 19, 2008, at 11:52 am. Driver Mark Ticehurst was piloting the Furai when the engine bay caught fire while cresting a hill on the backside of the track. Ticehurst was able to escape the car before the fire spread to the cabin area. Due to the location of the accident, fire crews were initially unaware of the incident, and took several minutes to reach the Furai. By this time, the car was completely engulfed in flames. The fire took approximately eight minutes to extinguish, and the Furai was incinerated as a result. Although the car's remains were initially taken to Mazda's Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California, the ultimate fate of the Furai's charred remains is not publicly known.

References

External links

Mazda's official announcement about the Furai
{{Mazda vehicles Furai Gran Turismo (series) All-wheel-drive vehicles Cars powered by Wankel engines