More than 40 years of offbeat automotive history has come to an end, not totally unexpectedly. Mazda's long production of its Wankel-cycle engine concluded last Friday when the company's final RX-8 sport coupe, its last vehicle using the rotary engine, rolled off the assembly line in Hiroshima last Friday, Automotive News reported.

The rotary's feathery internal spinning weight and insane RPM put Mazda solidly on the radar when the engine debuted in the 1967 Cosmo Sport. Since then, it had become increasingly less relevant, mainly due to its thirstiness. Mazda remains alone among Japanese automakers for its lack of profitability. The rotary's brightest moment came in 1991, when Mazdaspeed, the company's racing arm, took on the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a four-rotor Wankel in a Group C coupe. With 700 shrieking horsepower, it became the first, and still the only, Japanese car to win at the Sarthe. Just that quickly, the FIA banned rotary engines from global sports car competition.

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