On June 11 the iconic Mazda 787B will return to Le Mans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its historic race win back in 1991. How great will it be to see (and hear!) this wonderful race car on the track again?
Until then, here's a great shot that Mazda released of the fully restored 787B being tested in Japan prior to its journey back to Circuit de la Sarthe.
-Mike Garrett
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Fantastic. Will have to download the LeMans Classic for this year then.
That car is a work of art and sounds like one of Beethoven's compositions. It belongs in France at the Louvre Museum in France. Heheheheheh
Now just waiting for somone to claim this to be one of the greatest cars of all time.... You can then look at that somone and know they have no idea about the 787s history of winning only 1 race, and failing to finish many others. (Although credit is due being the only japanese manufacturer to win Le Mans)
I would be much happier to see the real legendary groupe c cars, the saubers, jaguars, nissans, toyotas, and lets not forget the mighty porsches!
I shit you not, that is my all time favorite race car ever !!
Ive been fascinated with it for years!
thank you for the great news!
it IS the best sounding car in the world!
Can't wait to see it in action again!!! Brilliant car!!!
My favorite racecar of all time. I remember seeing it at the Toronto autoshow in 94 and it was love at fisrt site.
Nothing beats the sound of a screaming rotary engine.
The 787b and sportscars from the late 80's to early 2000 was the best years.
O.O sooo amazing...
YES!!! didn't this car get banned for being too fast? Mazda is such a cool company haha
awesome but I would rather watch this car seriously kick some ass rather than do a few parade runs.
WAAALLPPPAAAPPPERRRRRRRR!!!
This is the single most exciting news I've heard in a very long time!
Every rotard's wet dream.
@RyanH
No the 787b did not get banned for being too fast it was one of the slower cars, infact the fast cars were the Saubers, Porsches and the Nissans. The quick cars were the Jaguars, Peugoets and Saubers.
The engine regulations changed in 1992, to be more in line with Formula 1. Thus engines became 3.5l V8s V10s V12s. And rotaries and turbo engines were banned. Some people will say that this was because a rotary won at lemans, but that is incorrect, as the plans for the new engine formula were drawn up several years earlier, and all manufacturers and teams knew this.
If you want to see the realy beauty of world sports cars, look up the Sauber C9/C11 or the Jaguar XJ9/12/14 or Peugoet 905/905b even the Nissan R9# series was great! Those cars along with the Granddaddy Porsches 956 962s are the real stars of the groupe c era
Can only imagine what it would be like to drive with that engine behind you ...
This car is awesome.
nothing is as rad sounding as that thing at max revs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too bad to hear that sound the thing has to be near the rev limiter in top gear and absolutely FLYING down the straightaway!
http://youtu.be/0qPHsk0t1uo
Testing the restored Mazda 787B (Mine Proving Ground)
one of the all time greatest cars. so sad to not go to le mans this year http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodduck/5496144791/
Wallpaper please!
Love the sound, like it's laughing at idle....evil laugh!
@Jezza
great info! the Peugoet is very cool.so it was a change of rules that banned this car rather what i had head.good to know.!!
Jezza,
You're missing the point,. Yes, the 787B was not an all conquering car, but Mazda's 1991 win was truly a David vs Goliath battle. They didn't have outright speed or the resources of the big teams, but meticulous calculation and rotary reliability proven in IMSA endurance races. Everyone agrees M. Schumacher is an awesome driver, but everyone still says it was boring when he was winning all the time.
Jaguar was much faster but had to pull back because they would have run out of fuel (Group C regs specified how much fuel a car was allowed in a race); Mazda had a better fuel . Mercedes popped their water pump belt because they anodized the alternator bracket. Peugeot set themselves on fire in the pits.
Wallpaper please!! dope shot of the 787b
are the old drivers on the road, too?
WALLLLLLLPAPER!!!1!!
looks the part.. i know these sound very throaty too.
One of my all time favourite race cars. Too cool!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!....Only If I was lucky enough to witness this in person. I trust SPEEDHUNTERS will provide plenty of vid footage to please all our senses
WALLPAPER PLEASE
the 787B is my favorite race car ever.
I'll def have to get the Le Mans classic this year
@Jezza, "Ask any racer, any real racer. It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning's winning."