RX8 rotary Wankel engine is still causing big problems apparently.
Sweet as a nut when it's running right, but normally catastrophic when it goes wrong....and many are. I really don't know why they persevere with it tbh
You DO NOT buy one that is out of warranty...EVER. 
In the late 80's/early 90's Norton produced a 588 (nominal) cc Rotary engine and it wiped the floor with all the Jap 750s at the time in Superbikes. Oil consumption and heat generation was its biggest problem, but obviously for a 28 lap race, this isn't too much of a problem. The bike produced over 100bhp at 1,500rpm and was thus a bit tricky to get out of corners as the back tyre wasn't able to hold that amount of power on such a light machine.
To put it into perspective, a current GSXR1000 (the Daddy of all bikes) makes about 30bhp at the same revs.
The Mazda RX8 is a fine car, but petrol consumption is relatively high (although a lot less that my old Lexus)
