I don’t know about you all, but I’m tired of every high-revving engine being compared to a Formula 1 V10. Like, I get it—YouTubers want clicks and we car people are suckers for that sweet 2000s nostalgia. But the truth is, most of the time, whatever garage-built project they’re talking about doesn’t sound like an F1 V10.
This insane five-rotor with a 106-millimeter turbo, however, does.
It’s the work of David Mazzei, who started a company called Mazzei Formula. He specializes in nasty rotary engines, and before this, he crafted a four-rotor for an FD RX-7. This build, dubbed the Formula Five, uses a Superlite SL-C kit car as its base and goes wild from there.
Mazzei started the project in 2021 when he acquired the SL-C. He wrote about his plans for the car in a gt40s.com forum post:
“Five-rotor, first one in the world. Crankshaft is currently off for balancing. We plan to run a billet engine, full peripheral port, and a modified G57 turbo to achieve around 1,500 [rear-wheel horsepower] and produce a V10 F1 sound. Rotary fires 1x per rev, four-stroke piston fires once every other rev. With the 72-degree lobe angle offsets, and an equal length five-into-one collector with merge angle and collector design mimicking the [Mazda] 787b four-rotor, we theorize it should sound identical to a V10 F1 at 18,000 [rpm] when running at 9,000 rpm. Major third harmonic, one being root tonic, and the third and octave above the root.”
To me, that sounds like a guy who knows what he’s talking about.
Fast forward roughly four years, and Mazzei has made good on his promise. He uploaded a video earlier this week showing the Formula Five on the road with cameras inside the car and out. My favorite view has to be the rear-facing angle, focusing on the engine and the massive 106-millimeter turbo strapped to the back.
It has an air-actuated Holinger MXT sequential transaxle that only makes the sound better as he clicks through the gears. And as for the 3.3-liter engine, it has a six-stage dry sump oiling system with a cable-driven, spur-geared fuel pump. Being honest with you guys, I didn’t even know a dry sump system could have six stages, and I’ve never heard of a spur-geared fuel pump. I guess that means I need to spend more time in the pits.
Watching this video makes me realize that I’ll never be able to build something like this. And you know what? That’s fine. I’m more than happy to leave the crazy projects to people like Mazzei with the smarts and—importantly—patience to make them happen.
Man, what a sound.
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