Here’s a heads-up before you hit play: turn the volume up, but be warned—the sound you’re about to hear might push your speakers to their limit. And if you’re in public, don’t be surprised if F1 fans come running over, expecting to hear the legendary scream of a V10. But this time, it’s not a V10. It’s not even a piston engine. What you’re hearing is the roar of a turbocharged five-rotor.
This comes from the latest video on Mazzei Formula’s YouTube channel, showcasing the Mazzei Formula Five—a car that’s somehow street legal. The mastermind behind it all is David Mazzei, who not only built this insane machine but also personally took the wheel during a brutal dyno session. It’s always refreshing to see a creator dive in hands-on, and Mazzei definitely doesn’t hold back.
Over Four Years In The Making
Before jumping into the wild footage, here’s the backstory. The Formula Five project kicked off in 2021, with David Mazzei aiming to create the world’s first road-legal five-rotor car. Someone else managed to claim that milestone first, but that doesn’t take away from the sheer brilliance of Mazzei’s machine. Built on a modified RCR Superlite chassis, it’s essentially a Le Mans-style prototype that keeps things raw and authentic. It’s a single-seater, of course, with no power steering, no power brakes, and absolutely no hesitation from Mazzei to push the limits during testing.
Under the bodywork lies the star of the show: a custom five-rotor engine paired with a massive Garrett G57 106-mm turbocharger. Feeding the beast is an integrated liquid-to-air intercooler, and power gets sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transaxle. The soundtrack? That’s handled by a Vibrant exhaust system that makes every rev sound like controlled chaos.
Mazzei’s goal was simple but bold: make the Formula Five sound like a V10 Formula 1 car at full throttle. After watching—and more importantly, hearing—the video, we’re confident in saying he nailed it.
Tiny Car With Excessive Power
This video isn’t just a highlight reel of dyno pulls and celebratory fist bumps. It goes deeper, walking viewers through the tweaks made between runs and, later on, the extra tuning steps needed to fully unlock the Formula Five’s potential.
The goal of the day was clear—push the car to maximum output. Even the warm-up run was impressive, delivering 762 horsepower at 7,500 rpm. And for anyone still clinging to the old myth that rotary engines lack torque, Mazzei proves otherwise. With five rotors and a turbo, the Formula Five cranked out 544.7 pound-feet at 7,000 rpm—on its very first pull, with the rear tires already spinning.
But wait—things get even crazier.
Several dyno pulls were done in fourth gear, each one fine-tuned with changes to boost, fuel, and other key settings to chase the perfect power curve. Just adding two extra pounds of boost bumped output to 814 horsepower. Dialing it up to nine pounds pushed the number further to 877 hp.
More importantly, the adjustments smoothed out the curve, letting the engine breathe and make stronger power higher in the rev range. The result? A fifth-gear run that unleashed a staggering 1,053 horsepower at 8,100 rpm, with torque peaking at 730 lb-ft at 6,700 rpm. And believe it or not, that still wasn’t the final number.
After fine-tuning the engine to smooth things out across the rev range, Mazzei went for the big one—a full-send run. This wasn’t just a single gear pull, but an all-out blast through the gears, topping out at 9,000 rpm in fifth. The payoff? A jaw-dropping 1,120 horsepower and 806 lb-ft of torque. For perspective, that’s more than a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, which makes 1,064 hp at the crank. Factoring in drivetrain losses, the Formula Five’s engine is likely putting out closer to 1,200 hp as it sits.
And this isn’t even the ceiling. There’s still room to push more boost, but the short-term plan is to hold the horsepower steady while raising the revs. Long term, the goal is to stretch things to around 1,500 hp. That will give the team valuable data on the five-rotor setup before dialing it back for reliable street use.
Mazzei’s vision is to one day offer road-going versions of the Formula Five. And if they all sound like this one, the wait will be more than worth it.
FAQ’s
1. Is there a 5-rotor engine?
Yes, but only as custom builds. Mazda and a few rotary enthusiasts have made experimental 5-rotor engines by combining multiple rotary housings. These aren’t factory cars, more like one-off projects for racing or showing what’s possible.
2. Are F1 cars rotary engines?
No. Formula 1 cars do not use rotary engines. They’ve always used piston engines — from V12s and V10s in the past to today’s turbocharged V6 hybrid units. Rotary engines have never been part of F1.
3. What is the most powerful F1 car ever made?
In terms of raw power, many point to the cars from the mid-1980s turbo era. For example, qualifying engines in that period could push close to 1,400 horsepower. Modern F1 cars are lower in peak numbers but more advanced overall, with hybrids delivering around 1,000 horsepower combined.
4. What engine is in F1 cars?
Today’s F1 cars run a 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 hybrid engine. Each car has one main turbo V6 plus an advanced hybrid system that recovers energy from braking and exhaust gases to give extra power and efficiency.