E U N O S C O S M O "History"

As is usually the case for many manufacturers, the JC Cosmo was born from a concept car. Shown as a fully working prototype the MX-03 concept car made its debut at the 1985 Frankfurt (Germany) motor show to spectacular praise. It started life as a drawing on paper just 12 months prior yet comprised many of the most advanced features possible for the time, some of which made it through to production form. The 13G triple rotor turbocharged engine was the most obvious, plus the 4-WD system & 4-wheel steering would later be found on the BG-323 (4WD option) series & the GD-626 (4WS option) aswell as several others during the 90's.

The two-plus two design was to be an important statement. Luxury touring with advanced features & a powerful engine will always appeal to the public. The question would become, "Could they afford it, if it went to production" Electrically operated seats, HUD dash & information console were all packed into the MX-03. The steering wheel looked more at home in a plane than a car & was tuned for just 120` lock-to-lock.

Yet it was the entire theme that had the public gasping. Not only had Mazda developed a reliable means of producing a triple rotor engine, but they where open minded to a production version & got the same response no matter where the car was shown off. Within 12 months the 13G triple rotor engine would find its way to the Le Mans racing Mazda 757 of 1986 but for the MX-03, its not hard to spot hints of the 13Bt (HC Luce+FC RX-7) engine in the turbocharger, intercooler & throttle body design.

Boosted by the twin-scroll design Hitachi turbo, the turbo-charged 13G was rated at 236kW @ 7000rpm. Torque was an impressive 393Nm through 8.5:1 compressed rotors. A top mounted intercooler was fed cold air via a bonnet mounted NACA duct. Drive was through an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic to all 4-wheels. Performance was for-the-time, extraordinary.

Running ceramic coated everything insulated the internal heat but what was impressive were the aluminium rotors that reduced rotating mass considerably. It would have been quite interesting had those ceramic coated rotors made it to production. For reference, the 13G is known as the race engine where the 20B was the production version. As the front timing cover was made with racing in mind, there was no oil metering system as two-stroke pre-mix is used. The remedy... get the engineering shop to graft an external metering pump onto it for street use. Note the oil filter location in the centre bearing plate. Not a very practical location yet.