News to delight fans of the Mazda brand around the world. The Japanese carmaker is, reportedly, mulling over the notion of returning to Le Mans in the future with a rotary-powered race machine. Speaking to Top Gear UK, Nobuhiro Yamamoto, head engineer for the Mazda MX-5 and mastermind of the legendary 787B racer, said that “the expectation for us [Mazda] to return to Le Mans is high.”
“I am a rotary racing engineer. That is my background,” he clarified. “I hope – as with many other Mazda fans – that we go back to Le Mans.” While the marque itself has yet to issue an official statement confirming its Le Mans comeback, it isn’t exactly ruling out the idea – one only has to look to the recently-concluded 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed for more evidence.
At said event, Mazda was out in full force as it paraded its 787B and 767B race machines amongst others – the latter, unfortunately, was involved in a crash. Setting aside the accident, it is a no-brainer that the higher-ups within Mazda still possess the penchant for motorsports. Opening the history books will also reveal how significant the 24 Hours of Le Mans race is to Mazda.
In 1991, its 787B race car, piloted by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot, became the first race car without pistons, as well as the first Japanese car, to win the fabled endurance race – it is still, to this day, the only Japanese car to have won at Le Mans. Following that, a ban was imposed on rotary engines but said ban has since been lifted.
The Mazda 787B’s body featured a Kevlar and carbon-fibre composite construction and as a result, weighed around 850 kg. Performance was provided by a quad-rotor 26B Wankel engine that produced a total of 700 hp at 9,000 rpm and 840 Nm of torque, channelled to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox.
GALLERY: Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Right after Mazda won the 1991 Le Mans, they ban the rotaries. What a bunch of cowards…
In those exciting Le Mans Group C years, the Mazda rotary cars were the loudest among all the racecars, but not really the quickest car. They never really match the speed of the turbocharged monsters from Sauber-Mercedes, Porsche, Nissan & Toyota and the N.A engined Jaguar. But their cars are quite reliable and Mazda was certainly a Le Mans regular in those years. Their 1991 Le Mans can also be said helped by sheer luck.
Ummm.. since when did Gen Y’s like yourself know so much about the 1991 Le Mans? The Mazda wasn’t the fastest. Grab yourself the video and see who was in front for the straight 24 hours. And maybe grab yourself an education while you’re at it.
Triple rotor + Hybrid.
Triple rotors isn’t just enough.
Use R26B quad-rotor NA engine, add a pair of twin turbos and a KERS hybrid kit. You can easily got around 1000 hp.
I do hope Madza do commit, a real contender returns, nice. Maybe can teach Toyota and Nissan a few tricks about the toughest race in the world, not resale value, real bragging rights value.
Awww yeah! Rotary is the best!
Oh yes oh yes
*getting hyper excited and hopeful*
hehe i own this car…..
in playstation GT
that is how europeans stays competitive, by banning other people’s winning tech…
another example is when senna was driving for williams ,they banned those adaptive dampers….
they didnt ban them when prost was driving for williams
tho the car was horrid then , senna did mange to snag pole position for his final race….
The sound of Rotary engine…fantastic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az39eqLIbyU
If Formula 1 nowadays would sound like this………..