https://www.mazda.com/en/innovation/lemans30th/

 

Thank you for this!! Very much appreciated!

 

Extremely fortunate to get to see it in person back in 2016.

 

I remember Lotus's used to have a sticker with wreathes for every year they won the F1 World Championship for Constructors and I always wished Mazda had some something similar for its overall LeMans win.

 

seeing it in person is definitely a plus. Seeing it run however, that’s a thing of beauty!
ive been fortunate to hear both her and her siblings run live. Closest thing to matching that beautiful sound is an F1 engine. Specifically the older V12 era if not the V10’s of the early 2000’s.

 

That’s awesome, hopefully one day I can hear it run in person.

 

since the 2011 refresh it doesn't get out as much as it used too, between 2001 and 2010 though it did a TON of track days and events and stuff. compared to the competition (the Silk Cut Jaguars) the 787B is like a pickup truck, it starts with something like a key, and it will idle from cold on its own, and it just acts like a normal car. the Jags need a team of guys in matching jumpsuits with 1989 portable computers to get it running

Mazda USA also has another 787B, the white one, which gets around a bit too

 

I think Zach Mazzei is building a tribute car out of an RCR SLC. Looks like he's putting in a 5 rotor.

 

@ the Jags.

Are these event usually in the West Coast? Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention but I'm not aware of any in the Midwest.

 

out here we have the Pebble Beach Concourse, and the Monterey Historics and all of the other things that make it "car week" https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/govern...nterey-reunion
its pretty nuts to have all of it together, you see some crazy cars. i've seen ~12 Ferrari GTO's parked in a line before, and the Fedex box that they shipped the 2004 Ferrari F1 car in, stuff like that (the car was ~2 seconds off the overall lap record, and it makes sounds so crazy everyone just stopped and watched)

i would imagine you have some vintage race car event, there is the mitty and there must be something at road Atlanta

 

It was an absolute riot when she came over to Mazda HQ in Orange County. I've got old footage on video tape I haven't converted. It was surreal since I remember being 13 or 14 (I can't remember.. lol) and having my pic taken with it when it came to visit the Autoshow in Toronto after it won LeMans. I remember thinking it would've been fantastic to hear them fire it up within the Convention halls.. unfortunately she was strictly wheeled on and off her pedestal by hand.

A few decades later and I had the pleasure of hearing her twin along with some of her siblings run the course out in Cali. I think it was 7stock 17?? My memory isn't what it used to be..
I'll leave these here..

 

It always makes me chuckle inside when I see these types of threads. In reality, no one cares except for maybe a few hundred forum members plus some video gamers and I'd actually go as far as to say that the majority of hype behind this renewed interest in rotary has come from gaming. I too used to daydream about all the rotary glory there was to be had if only they got their chance (oh boy if only) but ultimately I grew up and realized racing campaigns were meaningless. It's funny how an entire industry plays off our immature impulses; another demonstration of how to further mismanage resources without concern for the collective future. But mazda is different I'm sure.

That parade lap 'flyby' was to a 99% empty stadium (literally laughable) and how the manufacturer thinks these little grassroot type events can turn any kind of profit or sustain consumer interest is beyond me. There should be a petition for Downing to donate his collection in the interest of historical preservation if there really is this much interest because afaik those cars are just rotting away not being used. Machines are not exempt from the 'use it or lose it' theory which plages humanity as we age. For anything to survive in operational condition will require curation and exhibition. Something which I do not feel has being taken into real consideration or currently exercised. I'd love to be proven wrong and I'd say now was the best time for collectors to potentially pick up a piece of history. The IMSA GTO 300zx only sold for a little over $540k. Decent price imo.

My friend (who is well within the spectrum) goes banana for 7stock every year like he's going to go meet Ronald McDonald. I suppose it just doesn't have much appeal to me as an adult to look at pieces of metal as I personally have never attended, maybe in the future. 30 years is a long time and thanks for sharing.

 

i think maybe that is right. i sold a 1980 MGB to a British guy who was about ~30 year old (give or take) and he knew all about the Rx7's and rotary stuff, even though Mazda sold like 3 of them in England. Really the 787B is the most internet famous car, and it does make a unique sound, and its a crazy color. just to support the argument, the silk cut Jags were cool in 1989, but nobody cares about them now

oh and we go to sevenstock for the people.

 

It all come down to personal preference, people like what they like not because it is a sold out event, otherwise you are just a trend follower.

 

Feder,

You must be the life of the party, huh? Lol

Since you never personally attended a 7stock (I doubt you ever will..), for those who are interested in unique machines as well as their owners, it’s a fantastic event! More so before when rotaries were still being sold.
7stock nowadays is truly for the hardcore enthusiast. People get older, life happens, or they just plain get bored (no idea how or why that happens, but I’ve seen it first hand)

Capatalism has a way of ruining things. Product is no good if you don’t sell millions and millions of said product. To have someone create something out of sheer enjoyment and still be appreciated by a vast amount of people is pretty awesome imho.

I was fortunate enough to grow up when things were sublime in the automotive landscape. F1, IMSA, LeMans. They all hold very special place in my heart and memory. Hell, I was there when Senna died! Those type of events really change your perspective on life.

Now excuse me while I view Johnny’s commemorative lap around LeMans with the magnificent 787b!

 

^ RIP Senna, I did not have the heart to finish his documentary on Netflix, because how political it gets as the documentary goes on.

 

Sevenstock is a awesome event and the people are what make it great. I can prove it, have you ever gone to a Subaru meet?

Honestly I’ve met some great friends through owning this car. 3 of my closest friends are because of owning my FD.

love the 787!

 

They might bring them to a vintage racing event near you. In 2016 Mazda came to COTA with the SVRA series, they brought the blue&white 787, 767B, and the GTO FC.
I saw David Haskell help with management, and I've been wondering if he's still involved with Mazda after they canceled Speedsource's contract in 2017.

 

Now I remember that it was him who posted on the IMSA thread on 8club weeks back . . . . with the same pessimistic/why bother attitude. If you own a sportscar and you're here on the forum, by default, you're somewhat of an enthusiast, no? Mazda being a small underdog makes me want to cheer even that much more for the little guy to have success. And the win 30 years ago was a hell of an achievement.
You were at Imola that weekend? Man I got sick of seeing Schu win so many times during the '94 to '95 years, as he literally had nobody stepping up to challenge him.

 

I disagree that a product is 'no good' if it doesn't sell millions; that's a very modern economic position to take imo. I found that the most valuable things were those that were made in small quantity by a very skilled singular worker or a small specially trained team. My educational background is in fine music and my interests are typically along historical lines. Luthiers' such as Amati, Stradivarius and Guarneri would only produce commissions as fast as humanly possible and these would generally find themselves in the hands of those in the Kings' court or a similar setting. There is definitely a relationship between our perception of a subjective value, what at items' actual physical value is and how opinion biases are used to influence group thinking. It's obvious that many designs and great planning is required to create a new product but likening something such as a mass produced vehicle to a piece of art is insulting imo. I swear FD mazda fans are basically megalomaniacs.

Anyways, there is no benefit to 'racing' other than exciting your senses and drinking beers with your bros, which imo comes at a very high collective price (pollution, resources, exuberant spending of billions on billions over the years when real philanthropic work could be done, etc). I suppose there's an argument to be made that there're economic benefits but I purpose that the positives do not offset the associated negatives. The automotive / heavy industries on the other hand does provide a board range of enriching / functional services and they are quite literally what keeps the world going. That's essentially the concept of the global / world economic forum.

I've always said that culture never truly dies because tradition / antiquated behaviors constantly pull on our metaphorical historic threads.



ps- oh and rooting for a 30yo win is fine but to me its' like celebrating the 1921 NY Giants World Series win. Times have changed and there's a whole new set of standards to operate by, let alone the SF Giants won a few not too long ago.

 

this is true now for sure, but for example the 1935 German Grand Prix had 250,000 people show up, including the kings of the time. it was a big deal

i can relate with the rest, i mean i've been playing with these cars for ~25 years, if they weren't built with such crazy attention to detail, i'd be doing something else. just as an example the FC lock ***** are in forced perspective, so they are a really odd shape that looks square from the drivers seat. its kind of neat that they did that for no reason.

the other thing are the people, the Rotary world is a nice place to be, i've been to other meets and the Rotary people are the nicest.

 

You are thinking too much into why people like certain things mass produce or not, it's not rocket science. There are tons of iPhone followers out there, and I'm sure we have more iPhones than FD in the world. Not acknowledge the FD design is a piece of art is also insulting IMO. But art is a very subjective topic, not everyone care about some printings sitting in a museum huh?

There's more than just winning in that 91 victory, a lot of "first" have happened in that victory, and there's nothing wrong celebrating it. People celebrate a lot of things, some even made into national holiday that probably don't quite go with the "new standard".

 

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. This is old news (by F1 technical standards) but it does transfer to road car engines eventually.
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...mal-efficiency
First and only jap manufacturer (until over 25 years later) to have won. Does it suck the engine was banned after the race? Yeah. It sucks equally as bad that there was no 4th gen with a 20B, IMO.

 

[QUOTE=First and only jap manufacturer (until over 25 years later) to have won. Does it suck the engine was banned after the race? Yeah. It sucks equally as bad that there was no 4th gen with a 20B, IMO.[/QUOTE]

I would still think it's the only one that actually won with competition biting at its heels.. Toyota only won by default. So yeah, Mazda is still the only true Japanese marquee to win the prestigious race!