It's interesting how it died from extreme overheating before some mechanical failure resulting from the high revs.
Actually, listen to the engine crank over when He tries to re-start it, there is no compression, which means the engine died from loss of compression to the cooling system, which is mechanical. Phillip is correct in saying the rotaries get gummed up from the oil injection, but just like any other engine, if good maint. and good oil is used, the engines can last a long time. The turbo'd 13B's actually had more turbo problems then engine problems, and they are still a good racing engine in SCCA and good for airplanes also.
Oh, and I think they are easier to re-build then a 4-stroke engine.
And thirdly, no offense to Doughboy's car, The rotary was a much easier swap then the freaking Focus! We got one from a Junkyard a couple hundred miles away, had what looked like oil dry in it, it sat on a dirty garage floor for a couple weeks after that, then slammed it in, started it and We got second place in our class this year!!! The Focus on the other hand.....I will just leave it at that!
