Top Gear Apologises For Priceless Mazda Furai's Fiery Demise

Image source: TopGear.com

Top Gear Magazine has revealed that they were kind of responsible for the untimely demise of the stunning Mazda Furai concept in 2008.

In the five years since its secret death, you might have forgotten about the Furai, so here's a quick recap. Designed as the final step in Mazda's series of 'Nagare' design concepts, the Furai was a fully-working racer based on Mazda's American Le Mans Series endurance racer chassis. It boasted 490bhp from a 3-rotor Wankel engine that ran on bioethanol. The Furai topped out at 180mph and it sounded incredible.

August 19th, 2008, at Bentwaters Parks near Ipswich, was where the Furai took its last ethanol-fueled breaths. Top Gear Magazine was shooting the vehicle for a feature, and with writer Bill Thomas pleased with his stint behind the wheel, works driver Mark Ticehurst jumped in for the fateful run. Ironically, the photographer wanted to capture the licks of flame from the exhaust on downshifts - he got more flames than he bargained for.

The Furai in happier times

Reaching the end of the runway, Ticehurst slowed for the turn, and the team in the tracking car notice the Furai now sounds more like "a fatally wounded elephant." As the flames took hold of the car, Ticehurst jumped out and crouched nearby, his head in his hands. It took less than 8 minutes for the fire crew to put the fire out, but in that time the Furai was destroyed.