As the countdown to the centenary Le Mans continues, we celebrate the much-adored screaming Mazda 787 with this archive piece:
There were a pair manufacturers at the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours trying to make it two wins from two starts at the French classic. Jaguar was aiming to repeat its 1990 triumph, while Mercedes was looking to follow up on its 1989 victory after a year away. Then there was Porsche with the factory-backed Joest team and its flotilla of privateers, 15 Group C cars in total.
More to the point, Mazda's previous campaign in 1990 had been a disaster. It did notch up a fourth consecutive GTP victory, but the only one of its trio of cars to make the finish was classified down in 20th place, 55 laps behind the winning TWR Jaguar. didn't object when Mazda lobbied for a helping hand from the rule makers.
“It was definitely Mr Ohashi getting close with the official bodies,” recalls long-time Mazda driver Pierre Dieudonne, who was transitioning into a sporting role in 1991. “But the second factor was that the other manufacturers didn’t see us as a threat – we weren’t on their radar." "I convinced the Japanese to go with Hugues [de Chaunac, ORECA founder]," recalls Ickx."He's unique, so professional. I knew from the Lada programme how good his organisation was."
Mazda had an unburstable car by the time June rolled around and the trio of young guns were told to drive the thing flat out. Ickx had convinced his sometimes conservative paymasters to adopt what was then a new strategy for the marque. "It wasn't twitchy or nervous as cars of that era could be," he says."It was a strong and simple car that was easy to drive even though it didn't have a lot of downforce. And the engine was amazing. It was bulletproof: you couldn't overrev the thing if you tried."The second of the 787Bs — the third car was still in 1990-spec — was never in the hunt come the race.
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