Nerd’s Eye View: Mazdaspeed Mazda 767B

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The transaxle cooler is mounted at the very back of the car behind the rear axle. It would be a safe bet that there is a duct in the rear body work specifically for this heat exchanger. Also check out the truss structure of the rear spoiler mounting plates. Someone spent a fair amount of time engineering that to eliminate as much material as possible.

Looking forward from the transaxle cooler and we get our first good look at the 767B's suspension. The in-board dampers keep the weight as centralized as possible and mounting the dampers so the collar and shock body are mounted to the chassis reduces unsprung mass. The blade-type anti-roll bar (ARB) mounted just behind the shocks gives many advantages over a standard ARB with various holes. Blade-type ARB's benefit from fixed geometry, quicker adjustments, and a wider range of available stiffness.

Looking at the rear suspension and transaxle from the back shows that the control arms are mounted to brackets on the transaxle making it a fully stressed member of the chassis. This is common practice in prototype and formula cars, but adds an extra element to choosing a drivetrain layout since it also determines part of the chassis layout.

Another shot of the rear anti-roll bar and how it mounts to the upper control arms. This is the side that needs to be as stiff as possible so that all the swaybar adjustments only happen in one place.

The rear suspension upright and axle are angstroms from the rear floor plate. Well maybe not angstroms, but really close nonetheless.

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