MAZDA 787B winning the 24h Le Mans 1991

MAZDA 787B WINNER OF THE 24 HOURS LE MANS 1991

24 HOURS Le Mans 1991. Jaguar is present with the XJR-12, Mercedes with the C11 next to a few Porsche 962. Peugeot makes his debut with the 905. Hardly anyone speaks about the Mazda787B, the car where the Japanese will try for a last time realise their dream: winning the 24 hours race with their screaming Wankel-engine. They have only a small chance…
Since 1968, Takayoshi Ohasi was head of the race-department of Mazda. He had to deal with politics, rules and money. He hoped he had made the right decision.

The beginnings

German Felix Wankel had created in 1960 a simple engine where the pistons could rotate instead of moving up and down; the rotary motion thus produced could then be transmitted directly to the road wheels. The German  company NSU was almost bankrupt because of the failing and new Wankel technics. They had this engine in their NSU Prinz. Mazda had great interest in this technology, so they had bought the license already in 1961. Under the guidance of Kenichi Yamamoto and his group of engineers, named as “47 Samourai’s”, Mazda persevered. The engine was compact, had good acceleration and not many parts. But they had to deal with all sorts of growing pains. They introduced a second rotor to the engine.

The first real race car entering competition was the Mazda Cosmo Sport in May 1967. Time to get into Europe. The private Koga Racing Team entered a Mazda Familia 1000 cm3 in the 1967. Their efforts were closely monitored by Takayoshi Ohasi and Yojiro Terada. Terada himself would become one of the cornerstone drivers of Mazdaspeed.

 
2 Photos above: Marathon de la Route; left : 24 Spa 1969

The first official Mazda factory car in a race were two Cosmo 110S (982 cm3) in the 1968 Marathon de la Route. A fourth place for the Belgian team “Elde”-Deprez- “Jipea” was a great achievement. After this attempt, Mazda was present in the 1969 24 hours of Spa with three R100. The screaming loud cars were a sensation. One got involved in an accident in which driver “Elde”(Leon Dernier) lost his live, the car driven by Deprez-Katayama was 5^th and Katakura-Takeshi were 6^th. On top of that, in the Marathon, de Fierlant -Enever-Bertinchamps were 5^th. Things were more serious in 1970. The R100 did a great race in the Tourist Trophy (P08 for Katayama) and in the 6h Nürburgring with Deprez-Katayama 4^th. The car had a win in sight in the 24 heures de Spa. They ran second behind the BMW Alpina of Huber-Kelleners when the engine exploded with only 2 hours left in the race. In 1970 the Wankel bi-rotor 10A engine made his debut at Le Mans in the Chevron B16 from the private Belgian team of Yves Deprez and Julien Vernaeve. The engine lasted 19 laps. However, in the 1000 km Spa and the 1000 km Nürburgring, they were 2^nd in the category 2 litres !

Mazda’s first appearance in Le Mans

The first real Mazda prototype was the Group 6 Sigma MC73 from the Shin Kato Group. The car has a Mazda 12A-3L engine with two rotors with full factory support and entered by Mazda Automotive. In the 24h Le Mans 1973, the # 26 had to retire and in 1974, the all-Japan team with Okamoto-Takahashi -Yojiro Terada were not classified due to insufficient distance.

 
The oil crisis was a bad thing for the rotative engine. So it is only in march 1978 that the Mazda RX 7 got into production ( thanks to the help of Ford). It was only in 1979 that a Mazda  RX 7 252 was entered in the Le Mans race according to IMSA GTO rules. In the 24 hours Daytona, two RX 7 were 5^th and 6^th in the race, winning the GTU class. Yoshimi Katayama, Youjirou Terada and Takashi Yorino were the best. But in Le Mans, the RX 7 could not get through qualifications. The revenge came in 1980 when the American RX7 driven by Honegger-Hutchins-Soto (#86) ended 21th; the first Japanese car to be classified.

 
24h Daytona 1979 and 1980

During the 80 ties and 90 ties, the RX7 would go on winning in the IMSA class. Jim Downing, Roger Mandeville abd Amos Johnson were GTU champions. Most credits however go to Katayama-Terada-Yorino. P04 in the 24 h Daytona 1982 and Knoop-Halsmer-Reed, P03 in 1983. Parallel to this, the Argo-Mazda won three consecutive titles in the IMSA-light with Jim Downing; he would go on in constructing the Kudzu-Mazda. A Royale-Mazda went on to win the 12h Sebring in his category in 1986.
In 1992 a Mazda RX-792P is finally constructed. The car was designed by Lee Dykstra and constructed at Max Crawford. Despite two successes, Mazda would end his participation in competition at the end of the year. When the GTP cars became WSC in 1984, it was again Kudzu-Mazda who had success in Sebring in 1994 and Daytona in 1996.
In Europe, the RX7 were prepared by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. Win Percy got two BTCC titles in 1980 and 1981 and the Scotsman was also responsible for winning the 24 hours Spa.

Exploring further the Le Mans 24h

Mazda was back in the 24h Le Mans 1981 with two TWR RX-7 under the name Mazdaspeed with Ohashi and Terada guiding the structure. Both cars were out before mid-race with transmission problems. There was also one extra car on the list: the RX-7 from ZW enterprise. They did better in 1982. The #82 (driven by Yojiro Terada, Takashi Yorino  and Allan Moffat, see photo) ended 14^th .

The creation of the C2 Junior gave Mazda in 1983 the opportunity to construct, with the help of a small constructor Mooncraft from Gotemba near Mont-Fuji, their first real prototype, the Mazda 717C. The Alan Docking Racing team was chosen as European base. Yorino, Terada and Yoshimi Katayama (#60) drove the car to P12 and winning the C-junior class. The #61 (Steve Soper/'Jeff' Allam /James Weaver) was second in the class and ended in P18.
C2 class was created in 1984 and the Lola-Mazda from the American BF Goodrich did better. Morton-Katayama-O’Steen (#68) classified 10^th and winner of class C2, five places better than the Mazda 727C #87 of David Kennedy and Philippe and Jean-Michel Martin. When Busby-Knoop also won the Monza race, the Lola-Mazda became world champion C2.
In 1985, Kennedy and the Martin brothers were only 19^th in Le Mans with the 737C, the latest version by Mooncraft; the other car of Terada was 23^th.

Towards a win for Mazda in the 24 hour race

With the recruitment of designer Nigel Stroud in 1986, everything changed. He had worked for Hesketh and ATS in F1 and for Team Lotus. After that he was busy in endurance with Argo and for Richard Lloyd’s Porsche. The Englishman designed the new Mazda 757 with a tri-rotor 13G engine developing 300-450 bhp linked to a Porsche 956 gearbox. It was because of the expected continuous development of more powerful engines in the future, that Stroud designed a concept that the monocoque could easily be adapted to newer engines. The cars would not change much in the next years.  In the 1986 race, the Mazda (#107) had transmission problems and retired in the 10^th hour.
The next year, Kennedy-Dieudonne-Galvin (#202) ended 7^th  behind the first C2 Spice and won the IMSA-GTP class with 318 laps covered. The other 757 retired with engine problems in the 3th hour.

This victory did not change the image of Mazda for one minute. In fourteen days, they constructed the quadrirotor 13J engine with 589 bhp. That had to boost the ambitions in 1988. But not directly. The old 757 trirotor of Dieudonne-Terada-Kennedy (#203) ended the race in a low 15^th place, but again as IMSA  class winner. The 767(#201) quadrirotor was 17^th., 7 laps behind the sister car.

 
After a 5^th place of Katayama-Yorino-Forbes Robinson in the 24 Daytona 1989, Mazdaspeed entered the full world championship with the 767 and 767B type. They classified only 15^th with only two top 10 results (480 km Dijon and Spa). The Le Mans race did not count for the championship. And there, the 767B of Kennedy-Dieudonne-Hodgetts was 7^th winning the IMSA class again. The #202 car was 9^th.  Pierre Dieudonné said to Yasuo Tatsutomi, who was the production-planning chief that visited Le Mans at his own expenses: “we only need some 100 pk extra”. He already was the man behind the quadirotor and now he urged his engineers to find the extra power..
Things were ready for the 1990 race with an increase from 630 to 702 pk. Jacky Ickx was attracted as consultant together with three young drivers: Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot. Unfortunately, the two new 787 cars had to retire (#202, electrical problems; #201 oil leak), while the old 767B finished the race in 20^th position. Probably the 787 had not enough testing.

The Mazda 757B ran like clockwork in the 1991 24 heures du Mans

At that time, there was nobody who could foresee a possible win for Mazdaspeed in the 24 hours Le Mans 1991. And certainly not the FIA who gave in on the lobbying from Ohasi. Wanting to boost their new Sports 3.5 Litres category, the FIA increased the minimum weight for group C cars from 900 to a 1000 kg but spared the IMSA-GTP which stayed at 830 kg ( maybe the lobby work of Ickx towards the ACO). On advice from Ickx, ORECA was chosen instead of Alan Docking. Hugues de Chaunac insisted Mazdaspeed to perform a simulation run at Paul Ricard. And that was a smart move.
The engine department constructed a new R26B 2.6L 4-Rotor engine. The car featured telescopic air admission inlets, which did the engine run smoother and it was the first car that used carbon brake discs in the 24 hours race. All was fully tested in the windtunnel. The light Mazda 787B with Weidler-Gachot-Herbert at the wheel had developed into a great car, ready to take the battle. They did not show their cards during practice! But in the last qualification session, they matched the pace of the XJR12.Over a single lap, the Mazda’s couldn’t match the turbo cars, but their reduced brake and tyre wear had an advantage. The team was also able to keep a better fuel consumption than the heavier Jaguar XJR12 and the Porsche 962. After 6 hours in the race, the Mazda with #55 runs fourth; hallway the occupied P03. A half hour later, Mercedes #31 had gearbox troubles needing extended repairs. With still 3 hours to race, they occupied an unexpected second place in the standings without a hitch. And then, the leading Mercedes C11 of Schlesser-Mass-Ferte had to retire with a failing water pump! That opened the door to an overall first win of a Japanese constructor in the 24 hours of Le Mans. Herbert, severely dehydrated after a triple stint and a food poisoning, crossed the line as the winner. To the press, who only talked about “luck”, Yasuo Tatsutomi said: “It is 99% effort and only 1 % luck.” Mazdaspeed could not repeat this effort in the shorter races of the season, so they ended sixth in the World Sportscar championship and a single podium in its domestic All Japan Sports Prototype championship. Nigel Stout said that the engine did not give enough torque and that the engine was too long.

 
The FIA went on to forbid the rotor-engines. So in 1992, the Mazda MX-R01 was in fact a Jaguar XJR 14 with an underpowered V10 Judd engine. Mazdaspeed got a podium in the championship, but remained without a win. Sandro Sala-Herbert were second in Silverstone and Weidler-Gachot- Sala- Herbert were honourably fourth in Le Mans.
1992 was the last year of the World Endurance championship and there were economic problems in Japan. Mazdaspeed retired from competition. Thanks to Terada, the Mazda name remained with a Mazda RX-7 in Le Mans in 1994 and Mazda engines in the Kudzu ( P07 in 1994 and WSC win in 1995) and in the WR in 2002.

If you want a sound of the 4 rotor Wankel engine, two short movies on you tube:
Mazda 787B passing at the Hunaudieres straight : watch here
Mazda 787B at Goodwood 2023: watch here