Nostalgic Wednesday: 91′ Renown Mazda 787B

1991 Champion : 24 Hour Le Mans.....yeah!

1991 would be the most celebrated year for Mazda racing fans.

why? 3. Reasons…

1. Because it’s the year when Japanese auto manufacturer, Mazda, kicked everyone and their momma’s asses on the prestigious 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race.

2. Equipped with the Wankel Rotary engine, it was the only non piston engined car to ever win. The rotary power-plant was so effective and so lightweight compared to the other engines that the rules for the following races were changed; therefore banning the rotary engine from competing in subsequent Le Mans endurance races. At the end of the season the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile completely banned the use of Wankel-type (rotary) engines in the racing series. Now how badass is that?

wanker. lol

3. Three 787B’s were entered for the 1991 event, placing first, sixth, and eighth. The #55 car led the race for three hours, from lap 320 to the checkered flag, for the WIN.

rotary pwr.

It’s amazing how long Mazda came, conquered and then got banned in one single season of racing. It’s like banning M.Jordan from basketball, banning M. Schumacher from Formula1, and banning L. Armstrong from TDF ?

It makes me wonder; was it a fair decision?

Like the listed sports players above, everyone had the passion to win, like L. Armstrong blessed with a good abnormal heart.

Mazda obviously had the passion and was equipped with a good abnormal heart(the Rotary engine), should everyone else have stepped up their game? Or should we eliminate the best contender when the game has changed?…

Mr. Keiichi Tsuchiya

Bonus Video!

-mark

17 thoughts on “Nostalgic Wednesday: 91′ Renown Mazda 787B”

My all time favorite racecar and engine. Great post, Mark

Well.. Firstly, I am a huge Mazda fan (I own 1 FD3S currently, and looking for a second), and have been called a Mazda anorak by my friends
The car above with the number ’202′ on it, is not the 787B that won LeMans. It’s the 767(b), which competed the year previously, 1990; albeit with a quad rotor R26B engine like the 787B. It’s main difference (engine wise) was the intake system. It had adjustable length intake runners like the 787B, but they were only configured to use a few pre-defined steps (from memory it was 3) but the runners on the 787B were able to be adjusted correctly to any point in the travel for maximum torque and power at any point in the rev-range. I assume they would have pre-determined these points on a dyno prior to the race meeting. You’ll also notice the body was slightly modified on the 787B also, likely to improve aerodynamics.

The quad rotor engine in the 787B was limited to 9000rpm for durability, however it is well known it continued to produce more power above this number.

Mazda had been competing at Le Mans for many years prior, hence why the ’202′ Reknown car could easily be mistaken for the ’55′ Le Mans winner if the assumption was they only competed for the one year.

Also, the Wankel had been banned from competition prior to Le Mans, but the ban was coming into effect only after the race was completed.

Mecerdes Benz were leading for most of the race, and only in the last 3 hours did the Mazda un-lap itself and then go on to the win after the Merc’s ran into trouble (One of the Merc’s was driven by Michael Schumacher, too). At Le Mans, the name of the game is speed AND reliability, and in 1991, the Mazda 787B powered by a 4 rotor Wankel engine – was the king!

I cannot WAIT to see this car in the flesh when we go to Japan!

Thanks for the clarification vortexau. re: the pictures, its hard to find high-res, post-worthy pics of the #55 so we had to use some of the 767B #202 pictures.