@peterautoracing

The Mazda 787B is a racing car from Mazda, homologated to compete in the FIA Group C category of the International Motor Sports Federation (FISA). It is built and developed by Mazda and its subsidiary Mazdaspeed to compete in the World Sports Car Championship, as well as the Japanese Sport Prototype Championship. It is designed to combine FISA Group C regulations with those of the International Motor Sports Association for the GTP category. Its special feature is that it has a rotary piston engine as its powerplant. It became famous for its victory in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans, which made it the only car with such an engine to have won the race. In addition, it was the only Japanese-designed car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans until 17 June 2018 with two Toyotas winning. Although the 787 and 787B lacked pace on a timed lap against World Championship rivals such as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche and also in the Japanese Championship against Nissan and Toyota, the Mazdas made up for this with their good reliability. This paid off in 1991, when a 787B driven by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot won the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours. This was the only victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by a car using an alternative engine design. The use of the Wankel engine was banned after this race under pressure from other manufacturers. This is one of the reasons why the Wankel engine did not develop, because of this ban. There are still Wankel engines in competition, such as the Rx8 Tri-rotor at the Daytona 24 hours. A total of two 787s were built in 1990 and three 787Bs in 1991.

Event:
-Le Mans Classic 2022

Specs:

Engine: 4 rotors N/A R26B
Power: 700 hp
Weight: 830 kg
Top Speed: +350 km/h

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