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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Mazda’s victory in the world’s most famous endurance race, the 24-Hours of Le Mans. In 1991, Mazda became the first, and till now, only Japanese car manufacturer to win Le Mans, completing 362 laps at an average speed of about 205 km/h.
Driven by England’s Johnny Herbert, Belgian Bertrand Gachot and German Volker Weidler, the 787B is also the only rotary powered car to have won Le Mans.
To commemorate this, Mazda has been invited to demo the 787B on the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 11, hours before the 2011 Peugeot vs Audi showdown begins. In addition, the 787B will also take part in the Driver’s Parade through the Le Mans city centre on Friday, June 10.
The orange and green 787B featured a chassis designed to meet Group C technical regulations and was powered by a four-rotor rotary engine that produced 700 PS.
Since the win, the 787B has been on display at the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. In preparation for the demo, Mazda has carefully restored it back to driving condition for the first time since its post-race overhaul in 1991. The work was carried out by current Mazda employees who participated in the company’s original Le Mans Challenge Project, along with engineers from Mazda’s subsidiary engineering company Mazda E&T.
The restored car has been tested by in-house development drivers, and its performance has been confirmed at Mazda’s Mine Proving Ground in Japan.
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Rotary Power!
so powerful the FIA banned them
where got ban??..mazda just did not enter le mans again after that…anyways, mazda has always had been an innovative jap company which take new risk and direction..only ford who own them for many years kinda held them back, now that mazda is independent again, i’m sure well see some innovative products from mazda..Zoom Zoom
FIA banned rotary engine race car after 787B the year after.
That’s why Mazda did not enter after that.
wow… legendary mazdaspeed
rotary engine is ancient. Oil-burner engines are in-trend nowadays.
rotary works but they r not as efficient in fuel consumption in that sense, however they do produce more hp per litre..now days its about economy and fuel efficiency, supercars with big engines could be a dying breed..sigh
nope…. someday, green tech will rescue them from extinction….. and free them to roam our glorious bends as the energy crisis ends but that will not come soon. might become an old ‘ah pek’ before it come true…..
with further research on current direct injection technology, rotary should n will be more efficient than reciprocating..heck even the 2 stroke engine can be more efficient than 4 stroke engine using direct injection..
herm, i wonder if there will be a supercar with 2 stroke engine..it might be interesting…….
@ jojo …. rotary won the le mans becaue it used the least amount of fuel…
Rotary for the win.. It’s for race cars, not plain sedan or SUV. Listen to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox2wgHqrNy0
Not even the Lexus LFA sounds as orgasmic as that. I say, to hell with fuel consumption! HaHa..
sound of rotary that bring tears to my eyes..beautiful sound and unique engine…makes me want to own rotary engine…
the obsession with rotary engines almost bankrupted them but its one of the reason im a fanboy and a proud owner of thier products…they are one of the few companies in any business that strives for inovation and more importantly.
.they do it on thier own way and what they think is right as opposed to being a complete sell out to trends..the rotary engine does have its quirks…i personally know a friend who carries a can of engine oil in the boot of her rx8 wherever she goes coz the rotors tend to love engine oil at times !….but its generation away from being a viable alternative imo….
look like the rotary gonna kick ass again in le mans
No it’s not. It’s just coming back for a commemoration demo run. Mazda have and are still involved in Le Mans as engine suppliers to some teams but not for rotary engines
Maybe Johnny Herbert should be back behind the wheel of this baby. That would be sweet.