Mazda 787B Trivia Question...

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GhilliePepper

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The Mazda 787B '91 runs off of a Rotary Engine. Can anyone tell me the specific name of the engine? I have been trying to recall the name of the model of Rotary Engine, its bugging me like the name of a song you are trying to recall. If anyone can help me answer this stupid and utterly pointless question, that would be great. :dopey:
 
Wiki is the best

In the racing world, Mazda has had substantial success with two-rotor, three-rotor, and four-rotor cars. Private racers have also had considerable success with stock and modified Mazda Wankel-engine cars.[40]

The Sigma MC74 powered by a Mazda 12A engine was the first engine and only team from outside Western Europe or the United States to finish the entire 24 hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in 1974. Mazda is the only team from outside Western Europe or the United States to have won Le Mans outright and the only non-piston engine ever to win Le Mans, which the company accomplished in 1991 with their four-rotor 787B (2,622 cc/160 cu in—actual displacement, rated by FIA formula at 4,708 cc/287 cu in). The following year, a planned rule change at Le Mans made the Mazda 787B ineligible to race anymore due to weight advantages.[citation needed]

The Mazda RX-7 has won more IMSA races in its class than any other model of automobile, with its one hundredth victory on September 2, 1990. Following that, the RX-7 won its class in the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona race ten years in a row, starting in 1982. The RX7 won the IMSA Grand Touring Under Two Liter (GTU) championship each year from 1980 through 1987, inclusive.

Formula Mazda Racing features open-wheel race cars with Mazda Wankel engines, adaptable to both oval tracks and road courses, on several levels of competition. Since 1991, the professionally organized Star Mazda Series has been the most popular format for sponsors, spectators, and upward bound drivers. The engines are all built by one engine builder, certified to produce the prescribed power, and sealed to discourage tampering. They are in a relatively mild state of racing tune, so that they are extremely reliable and can go years between motor rebuilds.[41]

The Malibu Grand Prix chain, similar in concept to commercial recreational kart racing tracks, operates several venues in the United States where a customer can purchase several laps around a track in a vehicle very similar to open wheel racing vehicles, but powered by a small Curtiss-Wright rotary engine.

In engines having more than two rotors, or two rotor race engines intended for high-rpm use, a multi-piece eccentric shaft may be used, allowing additional bearings between rotors. While this approach does increase the complexity of the eccentric shaft design, it has been used successfully in the Mazda's production three-rotor 20B-REW engine, as well as many low volume production race engines. (The C-111-2 4 Rotor Mercedes-Benz eccentric shaft for the KE Serie 70, Typ DB M950 KE409 is made in one piece! Mercedes-Benz used split bearings.)



Doh ^^ you edited your post and added the link in-between :)
 
The engine is R26B. Theoretically made of 2 13B 2-rotor blocks along with peripheral intake ports (fairly much like the 20B or RX8 13B renesis) and proper eccentric shaft. Obviously made to run on methanol or whatever racing fuel was used at that time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R26B#R26B Too bad they banned rotary engines from le mans series rather than forcing other teams to develop their own wankel powerhouses :D
 
The engine is R26B. Theoretically made of 2 13B 2-rotor blocks along with peripheral intake ports (fairly much like the 20B or RX8 13B renesis) and proper eccentric shaft. Obviously made to run on methanol or whatever racing fuel was used at that time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R26B#R26B Too bad they banned rotary engines from le mans series rather than forcing other teams to develop their own wankel powerhouses :D

You're exactly right, apart from the last part.

The reason they banned them was because the year that the 787B won, they had implemented a 3.6L V6 limitation on all Le Mans cars. The R26B had been worked on PRETTY heavily over the previous 3-4 years - but had no success in Le Mans.

The 787B in 1991 lucked out, as manufacturers had pretty undeveloped and unworked V6s in the works - they were just straight up unreliable - and luckily for the 787B - it was reliable enough to win. Even though it was significantly slower down the back straight, and had the worst gearing ratio of all the cars there.

Reason they were banned because their "theoretical" displacement and their realistic displacement are completely different.

A standard 13B-REW (1.3L twin turbo rotary) has roughly the same fuel consumption as a RB26DETT (2.6L twin turbo piston) - because rotaries displacement is measured differently meant it was considered a 2.6L but really had the fuel consumption of a 5.2L - and when everything else was limited to 3.6L V6 pistons - it was easier to ban than create a complete set of rules for Mazda only (which Mazda will probably find flaws and loopholes in).

Another reason was it was probably gonna clean up for a further 2 or 3 years until the rest of the manufacturers finally made decent engines.
 
I'm just going to leave this here...

Wankel_Cycle_anim.gif
 
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