A Classic Race Car than Can still Hold it’s Own

Mazda

Classic race cars are the inspiration for all the race cars of today so to ignore them would be a mistake. As my mom used to say “ignore the mistakes of the past and you will repeat them in the future”, hey it’s good advice. A prime example of this is the 787B created by Mazda over 20 years ago. While this car may use a fuel pump and fuel injectors just like other race cars of the time, it had one huge ace up it’s sleeve. It was unbelievably powerful for the weight of the car. It was powered by a rotary motor… and not just any rotary motor this one is a 4 rotor making close to 700 hp. This car not only stunned with its amazing looks and speed but the handling was just as amazing. As a result of this the car trounced the competition at the Lemans the in 1991 like no one had ever seen.

20 years later and this car could still be in competition with the other prototype cars that rule the track. This car was so fast that it was banned from the race and ruled to be “too fast” for this race.  What is it that we can really learn from a car that is 20 years old? The car may have been banner from the Lemans but it does not mean the technology has been scrapped too.  The 787 had an extremely low stance due to the fact that the motor was not relying on pistons that move up and down. The rotary motor could be mounted so low to the ground that the whole car barely topped the 40 inch level , infact if you ignore the rear wing it wouldn’t.
The 787 will be making a huge return to LeMans…maybe not in the way we would all like but in the classics race before hand. One thing for everyone is certain, this car will smoke the competition like it did years ago and original driver will be on hand for the event.