For any car company, racing team, and drivers, Le Mans has to be one of the biggest challenges any of those will face in motorsport. The famed 24-hour endurance race is one of the toughest motorsport events of the year, as man and machine attempt to make it through an entire grueling day, and with your mechanics always on standby to fix any issues should they arise. Many manufacturers have tried and failed to win Le Mans, but equally many have succeeded.

One of those that have succeeded potentially against all the odds is that of Mazda. Remarkably, it is now 30 years since Mazda’s iconic 787B Group C Prototype took its famous victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has since become one of the most famous victories in the races long and illustrious history and the 787B is one of the coolest cars to ever race at the circuit. It came after several failed attempts by the Japanese company to secure a victory at the race, but all of those attempts had sadly fallen by the wayside. The year 1991 though was almost one of redemption for Mazda, as they finally put the demons to bed and secured a spectacular Le Mans 24 Hours victory.

The Backstory

1991 Le Mans 24 Hours Mazda 787Bs
via Auto Express

Mazda themselves have been celebrating the 30th anniversary of this incredible achievement, but to put it into a bit more context, we also have to look at the attempts to win the race that sadly fell by the wayside. The rotary-powered Mazda’s had simply not had any great effect on proceedings until 1991, with the first rotary being run by the company at the race in 1980. Prior to their victory, the best result for Mazda was 7th place in the 1987 running of the race, courtesy of the Mazda 757. The year of 1990 didn’t bring much success either, with the Mazda 787 falling foul to reliability issues and finishing in 20th place.

1991 Le Mans 24 Hours Silk Cut Jaguar
via Catawiki

There was certainly plenty of rivals for Mazda to contend with that year. The Group C rules were made up of cars from Jaguar, Peugeot, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz, and it was the two Peugeot cars that would ultimately lead the field to green from the front row. Jaguar meanwhile was running older Group C machinery which meant they had to run with 200 kg of weight in the cars and this had quite the detrimental effect, whilst the same was also said of Porsche in the battle for overall victory. The stage then was set for quite an interesting edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

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The Race Itself

1991 Le Mans 24 Hours Race Start
via Daily Sports Car

Peugeot led the race from the outset, and it was looking like they would be in for a competitive showing among the massively improved Mazda 787B and the Mercedes-Benz C11s, ran by Team Sauber Mercedes with a certain Michael Schumacher driving one of the cars. Sadly for Peugeot, however, things unraveled remarkably quickly. The #5 car caught fire during a pitstop, although it was able to rapidly rejoin the race and the fire fizzled out. Soon after, though, both of the French cars suffered serious engine issues, and they ultimately dropped out of the race.

1991-Schuppan-Porsche-962CR-0-Hero
via Hi-Consumption

Thanks to their limitations, the Porsche's were also absolutely nowhere in the race, so could not capitalize on the issues for the French cars. This then led to the three Mercedes cars taking over the race, with the #55 Mazda being the one out of the three cars they brought to the event that was in hot pursuit. This car was driven by Johnny Herbert, Bertrand Gachot, and Volker Weidler. Mazda had been quite sneaky and had exploited a loophole in the regulations that put their 787B into the mix. The year 1991 was the first one in which the World Sportscar Championship ran to 3.5-liter engine rules, and a complicated qualifying saw those cars start ahead of older Group C cars permitted to race to make up the grid. This also allowed some teams to enter their older, more reliable Group C cars over the newer 3.5-liter versions.

The Mazda Loophole

1991 Mazda 787B Le Mans 24 Hours
via Snap Lap

Mazda was very cunning. The rules stated that naturally aspirated, rotary-powered old Group C1 cars were not required to run at the stipulated 1,000 kg weight limit. Remember, the 787B is an updated Mazda 787 from the previous year. So, Mazda was allowed to run at 850 kg instead, and the team managed to get that weight down to 830 kg to save even more weight. To further add to their advantage, the Wankel rotary engine was more fuel-efficient than those regular engines on its rivals.

Mercedes-Benz-C11-1991-Le-Mans
via Essar

This meant then, as the cars roared into the night, the #55 Mazda was running a very strong fourth and was easily in a position where it could make use of its fuel advantage and capitalize on issues for the Mercedes team. Unbelievably, those issues did arise for Mercedes. As Saturday rolled into Sunday, all manner of problems started to plague their cars, which started out with the #31 Mercedes pitting several times in order to fix a gearbox issue on the car.

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Ultimate Glory

Le Mans 1991 Mazda 787B
via Inside Mazda

This was not the end of Mercedes’ and Sauber’s woes, however. The #32 car was still in contention when that had to drop out of the race following damaged caused to the engine by debris. It had run over said debris and the impact was so severe that it damaged an engine mounting, and the engine died just before dawn broke over Le Mans. Finally, the #1 car fell by the wayside after it suffered from a water temperature issue caused by an alternator bracket shearing, which snapped the water pump's drive belt.

Weidler-Gachot On Le Mans Podium 1991
via The Independent

This left the way clear for the #55 Mazda to take the lead of the race, having put the pressure on the #1 Mercedes after the issues for the other two cars. Remarkably, Jaguar was now in second and third place, and the Mazda had a two-lap advantage over the rest of the field. The car crossed the line on Sunday to win the race, and become the first Japanese car to win Le Mans and the only one to do so before Toyota triumphed in 2018. Plus, it became the only rotary-engine car to win the Le Mans 24 Hours, an achievement that still stands to this day. Only one Mercedes, the number #31, finished in the top five. What turned into an event of despair for them, turned into a happy end in a long road for Mazda. They had finally won Le Mans, and the 787B would go down in history as one of the greatest cars to ever compete at Le Mans.

Sources: Essar, Snap Lap, Inside Mazda, Daily Sports Car, Auto Express, The Independent, Hi-Consumption, Catawiki, Mazda

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