All three Mazda RX8's, entered in this weekends Britcar 24 Hour Endurance Race at Silverstone, came through unscathed to show reliability is key to Mazda's long term success.

The three cars were driven again by an experienced endurance racing driver line-up as well as a team of motoring media racing drivers. Race Car 96 was led by regular Mazda endurance racing driver Mark Ticehurst who was joined by ex-F1 driver and veteran 24 hour endurance racing driver Mike Wilds, Auto Express journalist and experienced racing driver Owen Mildenhall and touring car and sportscar specialist Ian Flux, all of whom drove with Mazda in the 24 hour race last year.

The second Mazda RX8 Race Car 98 was headed by ex-Lotus and Arrows F1 driver Martin Donnelly – for the second year - along with experienced endurance racing driver David Leslie, who raced the famous Mazda 767B to a successful finish at Le Mans in 1990. David and Martin’s combined F1 and Le Mans endurance race car experience complimented our three motoring journalist drivers Andrew Frankel from The Sunday Times Driving section - who competed last year - freelance motoring writer Ben Whitworth and car magazine editor Jason Barlow who both raced with Mazda for the first time this year. The third car, sponsored by the Financial Times, was headed by experienced endurance racer John Griffiths with his team from last year Rachel Green, Richard Chamberlain and Andy Shephard.

The three Mazda RX8s were essentially production cars with only the suspension changed to account for the slick tyres and safety equipment fitted to conform to RACMSA, (Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association), race rules. The rotary engine and gearbox are standard and the same as found on the road-going version.

All three Mazda RX8 race cars were entered by Mazda Motors UK/Guglielmi Motorsport led by Team Director Steve Guglielmi who commented: "The cars which we used in the 24 Hour Britcar Endurance Race are based on the standard, road‑going Mazda RX8 sports coupés. The seats and many interior panels have been removed, and each car has undergone a number of essential safety modifications – including the addition of a roll‑cage, fire extinguisher, race seat and some suspension alterations necessary for racing.

"The revolutionary 1.3-litre, 231 ps RENESIS rotary engine is standard and the only slight modification we have made is to fit a racing gearbox."

Mazda PR Director Graeme Fudge commented: "This 24 hour endurance success further reinforces the reliability and exciting handling of the Mazda RX8 and the rotary engine. To enter three cars in this sort of reliability test and have all three finish is a testament to the quality of the Mazda RX-8 and the dedication and commitment of the whole team."

Think hydrogen power for cars and most will think of fuel cells. But not if you are Mazda.

The Japanese car maker used the opening in August of Norway's first hydrogen filling station near Stavanger as the perfect occasion to show off its RX-8 Hydrogen RE for the first time outside of Japan.

Leasing of this model - a dual-fuel, hydrogen and petrol rotary-engine vehicle – began earlier this year in Japan, a world first for a passenger car with a hydrogen internal combustion engine. This is the latest step in 15 years of Mazda research into hydrogen vehicles.

Car makers currently are tackling the problems of emissions on two major fronts - hybrids, which have been available to buy or lease since the turn of the century, and more recently developing engines that can run on hydrogen, which is completely clean.

Most engineers believe that these are not stop-gap measures being used until fuel cell engines become affordable but genuine alternative technologies that make cars cleaner and more economical.

“A hydrogen rotary engine only emits water. It is not as efficient as a fuel cell, but structurally it is closer to the petrol engine, hence its manufacturing cost is lower and it has fewer durability issues,” said Akihiro Kashiwagi, Mazda’s Hydrogen Programme Manager.

“Compared to fuel cells, hydrogen engines with dual-fuel system are more likely to play a significant role in the initial phase of the hydrogen energy society in the future. That is why Mazda is currently focused on developing dual-fuel system hydrogen engine.”

For Mazda, with its heritage of rotary engines, this has presented a particular challenge, and one it has met with a number of solutions using both hydrogen and hybrid power.

These ideas came together in the Senku concept, first shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

Hisakazu Imaki (pictured left), Representative Director, President and CEO of Mazda Motor believes that “Mazda’s creativity and spirit of innovation” helps the company produce these solutions.

The four-seater Senku, he said, is a rotary sports car that “strives to be both eco-friendly and very safe, and makes us ponder the transformation of what we consider to be of value, of thinking about the world we live in...and yet is still compatible with some distinctive Mazda Zoom-Zoom fun.”

But these solutions are not just in concept cars - there are real world applications. Mazda first used hydrogen power in 1991 and tested a fuel cell in 1992.

This year, Mazda began leasing the RX8 Hydrogen RE to its first two corporate customers - both energy-related companies. These vehicles, equipped with a rotary engine, feature a dual-fuel system that allows the driver to select either hydrogen or petrol with the flick of a switch.

By the end of 2006, Mazda plans to lease about 10 RX8 Hydrogen RE cars to local government and energy companies in Japan.

It took Mazda 29 months from the time it announced the hydrogen concept model at the 2003 Tokyo show to achieve the breakthrough, real-world rotary hydrogen vehicle.

Employing a dual-fuel system, the Mazda RX8 Hydrogen RE can run on either high-pressure hydrogen gas or gasoline. This means it can be driven in remote areas where hydrogen fuelling stations are not readily available, easing driver concerns about running out of fuel. In addition, this system boasts great environmental friendliness - zero emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas and near zero nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission when fuelled by hydrogen -together with the natural driving feel of an internal combustion engine. It uses engine parts and production facilities that already exist in Mazda’s inventory, which gives reliability and reduced manufacturing costs.

While the £2,000 (420,000 yen) monthly lease might sound high, it is about half the monthly lease price of a fuel cell vehicle already available in Japan.