It Was So Fast, It Got Banned From Racing

More often than not, the athlete you hope to win, Yuzan Bolt, flies past the finish line leaving his opponents in a cloud of dust. Michael Jordan scores his 60th point of the game after a last-minute jump shot. Mike Tyson counterattacks with a right hook and scores another KO the champion remains on top everyone collects their bet money no one is surprised, but every now and then the 10 to 1 loser that no one expected does the unthinkable David defeats Goliath and the course of history changes in the blink of an eye in the In the early 1990s, a time when Europe dominated motorsports, Japan shocked the world with one of the biggest upset victories in

racing

history. races and achieved it with a car that no one expected: the Mazda 787b with a new and innovative engine design.

Mazda catapulted its reputation and secured Japan's place at the world's motorsports table after the race everyone knew there was a new player in the game and Japan was forced to take notice this is how Mazda Against All Odds conquered Lamont Lamont 1991 Super Bowl of motorsports The oldest and most prestigious

racing

event on the planet, held since 1923, the 24-hour endurance race in the heart of France is the ultimate test of man and machine. Winning here not only meant crossing the finish line first, but becoming a legend and etching your name in the history books forever the stage was set for another dominant European victory Jaguar crossed the finish line taking the crown in 1990 with the

fast

championships Formula 1 with the McLaren Honda mp44 Nissan had a strong presence in the world of motorsport with the R90C and Toyota was dominating the World Rally Championship with the silky smooth Celica, even Subaru was starting to get some podiums in the WRC, but what about Mazda?

Well, they were like the black sheep of the family despite competing since the late 70s. Mazda had failed to accumulate a single victory at Lamont, they dreamed of winning, but they were just one of those teams that attended all the races but They never caused a sensation. They had a promising race car called the mc74 but it broke down and didn't even finish the race while the RX7 mons car didn't even qualify every year Mazda participated in since the mid 80's they were crushed by the competition. Taking the crown in 1991 would not only earn Mazda status in Japan, it would put Japan firmly on top. map and let Europe know there was a new sheriff in town, but in the minds of everyone from experts to casual fans, Mazda stood no chance against the titans of Europe, they weren't even on the radar, but Mazda had a secret weapon that everyone overlooked. a weapon that would one day be

banned

in Lemon's Forever the rotary engine unlike the usual piston engines that dominate the tracks of Lemont Mazda decided to be different the rotary engine was the creation of German engineer Felix Wankle it was compact it was powerful and unlike anything else seen Before, in the world of motorsports, the rotary engine worked on a simple principle, instead of pistons moving up and down in the cylinders, a triangular rotor rotates inside an oval chamber, there is Some moving parts, higher revs and a smoother flow of power sounds great, why? "Not everyone who used them was just saying that a lot of people didn't have faith in the rotary engine, they hadn't had as much track experience as the piston engine, so a nasty surprise wasn't out of the question, it was too." .

It's fuel efficient, which is important when you're racing for 24 hours straight. Many experts also questioned his reliability, which in a career like Lamont could be considered suicide. European teams had been watching Mazda struggle with the rotary engine in the lemons for years. was relentless, but despite years of setbacks and challenges, Mazda was convinced they were onto something big, an innovation that would vindicate a story like The Underdogs and in one fell swoop, and they wanted to prove that innovation can be tradition, but it was a task of Herculean proportions. It wasn't enough to fight along the finish line.

Mazda desperately needed a spectacular victory. They needed a new design that was sleeker and more aerodynamic than anything they had created, more powerful and with impeccable reliability, and Mazda had no time to waste at the top of Mazda. The leadership and engineering team was Kenichi Yamamoto for Yamamoto, the rotary engine was the future and he was there to let the world know, along with well-known car designer Nigel Stoud, they pushed Mazda to the limit working day and night to create the car that would surprise the world. World, the result was nothing less than a masterpiece. That masterpiece was the 787b adorned in the iconic orange and green color.

The 787b was a vast improvement over the 787. Its four-rotor 26b wankle engine was an example of genius-level engineering. He was not only capable of producing. 900 horsepower had a distinctive sound while the traditional piston engines roared and growled the rotary engine screamed and howled like a banshee it was perfect the design was virtually flawless it was so efficient and reliable that they needed to change racing strategy to accommodate it the The team was convinced this was the car that would win the 1991 L Man's and they wanted it so much they could almost taste it, but the notorious Beast that was Lamont was merciless to the unsuspecting.

Defeating him would require impeccable preparation. Every component of the 787b needed to be ruthlessly examined. Tried. and refined before going into battle, luckily the country that spawned Godzilla was no stranger to Beast Warfare. Japan was well known for its research and development capabilities and in the lead up the 787b was obsessively tested and at the helm was team leader takayoshi ohashi as a decorated veteran. With extensive experience, he would orchestrate the team's strategy, he ensured that pit stop efficiency, driver rotation and race tactics were surgically planned. Precision drag racing is a high-speed chess game, and ohashi knew his strategy could be the key factor standing between victory. or defeat another factor that would be crucial in the 11th Hour was the drivers.

The driver's seat of the 787 B would be an unconventional choice, to say the least, we have British F1 veteran Johnny Herbert, a man who was never supposed to race again after suffering a devastating leg injury. injured in an accident a few years earlier, the next driver was the relatively unknown vulker WID from Germany and the final choice was Bering Gacho, a crazy Belgian who after lemons hit a taxi driver and ended up in prison, being expelled from Formula 1 .A motley crew of Misfits, but they had a job to do and they were determined to see it through.

The testing schedule was as relentless and brutal as it needed to be. All three drivers knew what was at stake and Kenichi Yamamoto's leadership at Mazda had built a bulletproof system. culture that galvanized the team, bringing them closer where other teams would have crumbled under the pressure on the eve of the race, final preparations finished, the team waited with knots in their stomach, the 787b was loaded for transport, the Mazda team with its years from experience. preparation and a strange new car was about to be put to the ultimate test with the stage set in the most challenging race on the planet Mazda was ready for battle and at 3:00 in France on June 22, 1991 the race would begin In the history books they started and the odds were against them from the beginning.

The number 55 Mazda 787b is in 19th place. They had qualified for a better spot, but the top 10 was reserved for those who followed the rules, something Mazda did not do. Not only did they start at the back, but they also received a penalty of 200kg of ballast added to their car. Yes, I didn't know this existed either when the race started the C11 prototype of the Mercedes team driven by The future seven-time Formula 1 world champion, Michael Shoeer, quickly overtook as everyone predicted, but as the race progressed, against all odds forecast, an unexpected team was hot on their heels: the number 55 Mazda 787b with an engine so loud that the public had to pay attention.

He warned before shouting He moved up to fourth place as night fell This surprised even the Mazda team. Relentless testing and optimization was working better than expected. No one predicted that the 787b would be competitive, much less challenging. They were seen as the dumb little cousin. a miscalculation would be everyone's downfall Mercedes enjoyed the traction position, but no matter what they tried, they couldn't shake off the

fast

787b approaching in the distance and, as fate would have it, Lady Fortune smiled at Mazda at the moment. perfect while Mazda was hot on their heels. the Mercedes team began to have serious problems, their cars began to catastrophically fall apart, the number 31's gearbox broke and the number 32 crashed into the rubble, allowing the 787b to scream into second place.

Everyone was stunned, how could this be happening at this time? All televisions in Japan. was tuned to race Mazda looked a different monster this year but Mercedes were a wounded tiger but still very dangerous the only one standing in Mazda's way was Shoeer they still had a solid lead and Mazda was going to have to do something . Out of the bag to close it, but with just a couple of hours to go, the stars aligned for Mazda again, the Mercedes started to overheat. Schumacher has no choice but to pit, allowing the 787b to take the lead.

People from all over the world. around the television screaming in disbelief, this strange little team from Japan was making Porsche Mercedes and Jaguar breathe their exhaust fumes and there was nothing they could do about it, but the race wasn't over. The last Mazda driver was the mistreated Briton Johnny Herbert. Mazda could not allow Mercedes to get back into the race. The team leader, Ohashi, gave the order. Herbert would have to do a double stint at the end of the race. Herbert was severely dehydrated. He was almost passing out behind the wheel, completely exhausted and barely able to do it. keep your eyes open, you pushed yourself beyond your limits to keep up, it's a 24 hour race, remember when you crossed the checkered line first, the Mazda team along with the entire world sat in stunned silence, They had just done the unthinkable that they had achieved. one of the biggest surprises in motorsport history dethroned Mercedes and shocked the world.

Herbert, needing to be carried out of his car and into an ambulance, couldn't even make it to the podium in the biggest endurance race on the planet and after decades of losses. setbacks and failures Mazda was vindicated, they had made motorsport history and Japan had finally earned the respect of Europe as an equal in the world of motorsport, it was like a meteorite had landed, rules and regulations were being changed left and right in the center behind the stele. During the end of the race as everyone scrambled to understand what happened, Mazda not only demonstrated that the rotary engine could compare to the traditional piston engines that the FIA ​​fueled.

Automob International even considered the rotary engine to be an absolutely unfair advantage. Before the race, the rotary engine was a ridiculous nuisance. but after Mazda's victory they realized that it was lighter and much more powerful than its European counterparts. The regulations were changed and after 1991 the rotary engine was

banned

from competition. Mazda was so successful that they rewrote the rule book.