There are many times when bravery must be applauded. Mostly to do with human endeavour. And rightly so, because that is what humans are supposed to do.

And occasionally for corporate insistence above and beyond the financial or political edge.

That is why Mazda gets my appreciation for being the only manufacturer to persevere with the development and production of the Wankel rotary engine.

I've recently been driving the latest of their famous RX series cars powered by the technology, the RX-8.

The car is the latest incarnation of a series of sports cars produced by Mazda over the last four decades, powered by the engine invented by a man who didn't have an engineering degree, or even a driver’s licence.

But Felix Wankel has a deserved place alongside other automotive engineers like Nicolaus August Otto, Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and Rudolf Diesel.

The rotary engine functions in a way that is fundamentally different from conventional internal combustion engines. The 'piston' is in fact a rotor that spins in the centre of a housing that is shaped like an oval pinched slightly in the middle. The rotor has a set of internal gear teeth cut into the centre of one side. These teeth mate with a gear that is fixed to the housing. This gear mating determines the path and direction the rotor takes through the housing.

Several automakers took out licences to build and develop his engine, and one other manufacturer, NSU, actually put one into a production saloon, the Ro80.

But there were problems, as can be expected with any new technology, and the warranty claims on the Ro80 effectively bankrupted NSU, whose name has now disappeared. On 9 October, 1988, the day Wankel died, Mazda Motor Corporation announced that it would continue to develop engines without valves and connecting rods according to the Wankel principle. Since first starting to work on Wankel’s engine in 1961, Mazda has built over 1.8 million rotary engines – most of them for the Mazda RX-7.

Today, in the RX-8, Mazda has produced the latest of the Wankel line, the RENESIS. Constructed with twin rotors it is available in two power versions. The entry level engine, in the review car, produces 192ps of power.

A rotary engine is lighter and more compact than a traditional reciprocating engine, with an uncomplicated architecture and a minimum of components. The extremely compact size of Mazda RX-8’s rotary engine allowed engineers to place it more towards the centre of the vehicle, in a front-midship layout, which meant a 50/50 weight distribution over the front and rear axle.

Some 80 percent of peak torque is available at 2,500 rpm with the last 20 percent prior to peak torque at 5,000 rpm achieved gradually over a wide speed range.

And that's the first thing you experience when driving this car. There's a very smooth and progressive acceleration, with an underlying almost turbine-like wail that makes it a very individual car to be in control of. The total displacement of the two-rotor engine is just over 1.3 litres, but it runs the car from 0-100 km/h in some 7.4 seconds. It returns something around 27mpg, not by any means a frugal power unit.

I did find it a little less smooth at idle than I might have expected, and when driving through traffic, it likes revs kept up a little, as if impatient to go.

That was something I got used to, though, and the exceptional characteristics when moving up through the five gears more than made up for it.

I also found that around the national speed limit, fourth gear seemed to be where the car preferred to be. Not that it wouldn't pull from low speeds in a high gear, but every car has its own personality in this regard.

The steering and handling were absolutely neutral, almost as if it were a 4WD car, none of the pushing or pulling in bends that most sports cars have, whether FWD or RWD.

I think, given the kind of driving that we do most of the time in Ireland, that a somewhat softer suspension setting might be appropriate for normal use. Here's definitely a case for a system with multiple settings.

The exterior style of the RX-8 has classic sports car overtones, on which is laid more practicality than usual.

It is a 4-seater, for instance, though the rear is quite claustrophobic and absolutely uninhabitable behind a 6'2" driver.

That said, getting into the space - which is divided like the front by the Lotus-style centre-spine chassis - is quite easy thanks to the rear-hinged rear doors, which can only be opened after the front doors are open.

The outside style is strong and individual, and when you're overtaken by this one you'll be struck by the distinctive rear lights and the menacing dual tailpipes at either edge of the lower bumper area.

The interior finish is superb, if rather dark in the review car. The centre stack has an individual style to it, while the three cowled instrument dials are bright lighted figures on a black background. The central dial is an analogue rev-counter within which is placed a digital speedo. It works quite well in visual and information assimilation terms.

Otherwise, there's nothing about the interior that tries to shout out the high-tech and different underpinnings. Which is to the good.

Overall, an intriguing and impressive car. And one whose engine has a future beyond petrol, as it is also one of Mazda's test-beds for alternative fuels, including hydrogen.

For the moment, Irish prices start at 40,940.