To say that Le Mans is magical is to grossly undersell it. While F1 becomes ever more tiresome, ever more mired in politics and ever more dull, the 24hrs of Le Mans remains as a true beacon of motorsports greatness. It’s a combination of motor race, camping, funfair, acid trip (especially at 3am) and group experience. It’s the ultimate, and has been since 1923.
And yet, in all that long and glorious history, from the Bentley Boys to the roaring GT40s to the unstoppable Porsches to the silent Audis and Peugeots, only one Japanese car maker has triumphed in an outright win at Le Mans. Toyota has tried (and will have another crack in 2013 with its fabulous TS030 hybrid), Nissan tried, Honda dabbled but only Mazda succeeded.
Through a combination of sharp driving skills, clever manipulation of the rules and keeping their heads when all about were being lost, Mazda brought the remarkable 787B, with its eerie, howling triple-rotor rotary engine, home first in the 1991 Le Mans. And hasn’t been back since...
That could be all about to change, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but first, we took the opportunity of this remarkable 20th anniversary to talk to Irish racing legend David Kennedy, who was a lynchpin of the Mazda team in 1991.
“I was in several different motorsports businesses at the time and virtually knew every race driver as they were coming through. So I was well positioned to try and grab the next superstars coming through and bring them to the Mazda operation, after I’d driven with Mazda in the C2 category in the early eighties. So with my colleague Peirre Donaire, we were effectively the European arm of Mazda Motorsport.
“So we got hold of Nigel Stroud, who had been a designer at Porsche, and had had a hand in the dominant 956 racer, and had unique experience in building cars from aluminium honeycomb.
“The other cornerstone of the operation was a guy called Kio, who had been my mechanic in Formula 3, and between them they both bridged the gap in communication and culture between Japan and Europe, which was quite significant.”
To call Mazda the underdog in 1991 would be to lapse into understatement. Here was a small Japanese car maker, with a new car, a new team and a rotary engine going up against Porsche, Mercedes, Peugeot and Jaguar at the most storied race event in the world. How the hell did they pull it off?
“These cars were 800bhp, 230mph projectiles, they were fantastic to drive and unbelieveable to see, hurtling down the Mulsanne at 230mph, slipstreaming each other.
“But we were a very tight, very cost-effective organisation. A pure motor racing group, where as some of the other teams were maybe manufacturer heavy.
“As for the engine, the rotary was unique, and it had its advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages, it never gave you engine braking, so at the end of the Mulsanne, there was no help. But we managed to get carbon brakes on the car, so then it was a benefit because no engine braking means better fuel consumption. And because it was so smooth, it was like riding a magic carpet, and very good in the wet, with very progressive power. It felt like it would go on for ever.
“Against the turbos, they would accelerate off the corner faster, but you’d catch them at the end of the straight.”
Still though, up against the might of Mercedes (with a certain Michael Schumacher in one of their cars) and multiple winners Jaguar and Porsche, and even home favourites Peugeot with the new 905 racer (which would win in 1992), Mazda looked to be an also-ran.
But there was a secret weapon. Weight.
Because of the compact, light rotary and thanks to come clever chasssis design, the 787B was actually running in a slightly different rule class to its rivals, meaning it could carry around 150kg less weight. A crucial factor. As was the main Mazda driver trio of Johnny Herbert, Bertrand Gachot and Volker Weidler. Despite both Herbert and Weidler still recovering from massive F3000 accidents, all three drove magnificently.
And as the Porsche, Mercedes and Jaguar challeneges faded all around them, the shocking-looking (that wild orange and green paint job), shocking sounding (David relates that he couldn’t sleep inbetween his driving stints because he kept listening to the distinctive rotary engine wail, heard above all the other engine noises. Herbert says much the same.) 787B worked its way up steadily through the field until, with just a few hours left, the leading Mercedes, driven by Jo Schlesser, Jochen Mass and Alain Ferte, pitted with an overheating engine, and suddenly car no. 55 was in the lead.
Famously, Johnny Herbert’s final to-the-flag two hour stint in the baking hot cockpit pretty much finished him off. He brought the car home to the chequered flag, then promply collapsed from heat exhaustion, leaving Gachot and Weidler to take to the top step of the podium without their comrade.
“There was a Japanese report done by Mazda, and as ever Japanese reports aren’t small” says Kennedy. “It was of biblical proportions, on the reasons why we had won. And on the last page it said, ‘maybe it was because the car was blessed by a Bhuddist monk at the foothills of the snow-capped Mt Fuji.’ I was there for that blessing, it was a fabulous ceremony. And sometimes you scractch your head and say who knows?”
Twenty years is a very, very long time in motor racing. For half of that time, Audi has utterly dominated at Le Mans with its mighty diesel cars, and Peugeot has only been recently able to offer it stiff opposition. But now, Jaguar, Porsche, Toyota, Bentley and others are looking at reviving their Le Mans campaigns. What of Mazda?
Well, David attended the recent 20th anniversary celebrations, which saw the 787B return to Le Mans for an emotional ceremony, one which was thronged with crowds. “You know what, I think a lot of the Mazda guys clicked that there’s something they’re missing out on.”
So there’s hope then. Hope that the Mulsanne, Arnage and Tetre Rouge will once again vibrate to a banshee rotary wail.
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