MADE TO MEASURE
Mazda dismayed Nissan and Toyota by becoming the first Japanese company to win Le Mans (and the first manufacturer with a non-piston engine). The successful car (below), raced by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot, hardly missed a beat. Its victory was faciltated by an administrative blunder that allowed Mazdaspeed to produce the ideal car for this year's regulatory conditions.
In imposing weight handicaps on all potential challengers to its new F1-engined Sportscars, FISA proposed 1000kg as the Group C minimum, but only 830kg for the rotary-engined, GTP-category Mazdas in the SWC sprint' races (which Mazda was contesting with a single entry). However 50kg was added for Le Mans. Mazdaspeed director Takayoshi Ohashi lobbied FISA through March and April, claiming he could not build a viable racecar weighing 880kg.
The regulations were finally confirmed at the end of April. At his desk in Hiroshima, Ohashi read them several times. And, yes, they confirmed that the Mazdas could race at Le Mans at 830kg -pretty much their racing weight here 12 months before. Ohashi kept very, very quiet. He set about preparing his team to win outright with three new cars.
Lacklustre performances by the 787 at Monza and Silverstone caused no alarm among Mazda's rivals, but the B-evolution of Nigel Stroud's design was a much better car. It had slightly increased wheelbase and track dimensions, and Stroud's work in the MIRA wind tunnel lengthened the rear overhang and minimized drag caused by bigger cooling ducts for new carbon carbon brakes, Bigger-diameter wheels required reworked suspension geometry. Kunio Matsuura's powertrain developments focused on fuel efficiency and included a substantial increase in torque, although the quad-rotor engine's output was unchanged at 700bhp at 9000rpm.
The team retained Jacky Ickx as a consultant. Ickx had contested the previous year's Dakar rally-raid with a Lada Samara run by ORECA team. Mazdaspeed went with his suggestion of enlisting the help of Hugues de Chaunac's organization to run the cars out of its new facility at Signes, near the Paul Ricard circuit. ORECA conducted a long-distance test there with a development evolution of the 787 in early March, and returned in April with a definitive 787B. In the interim, a 787B had débuted in the WSPC race at Suzuka, finishing sixth.
ORECA operated a 787 at Monza on the same day as a 787B was next raced in an All-Japan event at Fuji, and did SO again at Silverstone while the specification was finalized for Le Mans. The heaviest Mazda at ACO scrutineering weighed a whopping 152kg less than the lightest C1 car (a Kremer team Porsche). The Mazdas could easily match their lap times of 12 months previously, while the C1 Porsches and Jaguars were now more than seven seconds slower. However, Ohashi was rightly dismayed by the pace of the C1 Sauber-Mercedes, which had not been here in 1990.
Weidler started the fastest of the Mazdas for its first (and only) motor race, and Herbert broke into the top 10 early in the secondphour. By night-time, the car was contesting fourth place with one of the Jaguars behind a Mercedes 1-2-3.
As two of the silver cars were delayed, the Mazda moved into third place at half-time, and second position an hour later as the Jaguar drivers saved fuel. The Mazda offered no threat to the leading Sauber throughout Sunday morning but, shortly before 1pm, the leader was in pit-lane with a terminal engine falilure. Three laps later, a disbelieving Weidller found himself leading the race. He completed a double-shift and handed the car back to Herbert for another double-shift to the finish.
On emerging from the cockpit, Herbert collapsed into the arms of his father. He had had no sleep at all during the 24 Hours, and had complained of a stomach upset. He was taken to the medical centre and missed the podium ceremony, during which many of Mazda's personnel wept openly. Herbert had raced the car for 8h7m, Weidler for 8h19m and Gachot for 6h42m, the remaining 50 minutes having been consumed by 28 scheduled pitstops.
If the team's standout driver was physically spent, the car itself was just fine. Its only delays had been caused by two brake pad changes and one disc change (all pre-planned), two replacement nose sections, and a blown headlamp bulb. Back in Japan, the 787B was stripped down in front of the media, and nothing was found that would have prevented it from completing another 24-hour race.
David Kennedy, Stefan Johansson and Maurizio Sandro Sala raced the sister car (above) to sixth place, having lost a couple of positions either side of 9am when their crew had to spend 16 minutes replacing an overheating driveshaft. This car was fitted with a lower fifth gear ratio than the others, meaning that it used less fuel, but was 20kph (12mph) slower in a straight line.
Yojiro Terada, Takashi Yorino and Pierre Dieudonné ended the weekend two places further down the field with the third 787B. Using ferrous front brakes, they went through pads faster than the others, and were also delayed on Sunday by a puncture and a faulty gearshift mechanism.
