Mazda 787B at Le Mans 2011...

  • Thread starter maciej908
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That makes me wish for a free engine Group C rule for Le Mans that just restricts the fuel tank size to keep things sensible.

How anyone in the ACO can think it's okay to have Diesel engines at Le Mans whilst banning Rotary engines is beyond me.
 
It seems all Motorsport catergories want to ban anything that gives anyone the slightest of advantages now.
 
what makes the 4 rotor so awesome sounding is the same thing missing from most motors in game: radical intake/exhaust timing. In the Wankel(I'm guessing as I have not paid much attention to them) its port timing ala two stroke and for the rest we're talking BIG camshafts. That's what makes a motor 'cackle' and surge at say a 2500 idle..and what produces that rush of power when you get to where the motor can breath as deeply as the cam allows. IMHO, GT5 is pretty poor in that respect. And in many cases it also makes the motor a worthless bowl of mush until you get on the cam..... :D, again poorly done in GT5. That said I do know that variable valve timing and other trickery will make the motor sound much more conservative than it actually is with the added bonus of a better powerband.
 
I was there on Friday when it was driven through the streets of Le Mans town centre - not my video, but I was pretty much in the same spot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YYsac4VOMw

The sound of the current crop of LMP cars is epic enough (besides the whistling diesels!), but the GTE Pro cars such as the Aston and Corvette are like nothing else on the track. Even in the early hours of the morning, in a tent about half a mile from the trac, those two cars can still be distinguished above the rest!
 
That just sent shivers down my spine.

Amazing engine, one of the best of all time.
 
787B being put to bed

I bumped into it in the village as it came back from the parade, they were being very very careful with it! Got to have a little chat with one of the Mazda technical guys, top blokes and very keen to talk about their car.
 
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Why Mazda have never made a supercar with that engine in it totally escapes me. Here is a video of a similar engine only in a drift car

Sounds even better in real life, like no other car Ive ever heard.
 
If it wasn't for the chicanes the speed advantage on the Mulsanne could let it storm off into the distance.
 
PeterJB
If it wasn't for the chicanes the speed advantage on the Mulsanne could let it storm off into the distance.
Click to expand...

Not likely, a couple of years ago Peugeot shattered the all time lap record at La Sarthe.

The old straight is not as glamorous as today. I used to think it was epic, but going at 230+ mph for about a minute is boring.
 
More like 250 mph actually. It was a better track then because the cars had to run with hardly any aero because of the straight and that made the cars a much greater handful on the curved bits than now.
 
Tired Tyres
More like 250 mph actually. It was a better track then because the cars had to run with hardly any aero because of the straight and that made the cars a much greater handful on the curved bits than now.
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I think at actual race trim 230 mph was the norm, but regardless, yeah the cars of yesteryear were indeed much more than a handful, and really the drivers made the cars back then.

Today it's more of car making the driver. Though in my fullest opinion, put the 908 that shattered the lap record in the Lemans of the 80s and the era would perhaps be dominated by the Pug.:ill:
 
The thing that struck me in the video was the spacing between gear ratios. Modern cars you see just a few RPM being dropped to the next gear, but that car had only 5 ratios to get to the 230+ speed range. Not what you call a close-ratio gearbox!

And fun to watch the H-pattern in action, too! Legs and feet working all three pedals, as god intended!!! :sly:
 
sumbrownkid
As orgasmic as that car sounds, and as beautiful it is, I wonder how badly this car will get beaten by today's LMPs.
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1991 Le Mans: Race winner: 362 laps (787B)
2011 Le Mans: Race winner: 355 laps (R18)

And yes the chicanes were there in 1991.

I'd say given equal tires, rules, and conditions, it would be damn close.
 
So they banned rotarys, yet they give diesels a smaller tank to overcome the extra distance they would get to be fair, why not do the same for rotarys?
 
Grayfox
So they banned rotarys, yet they give diesels a smaller tank to overcome the extra distance they would get to be fair, why not do the same for rotarys?
Click to expand...

They didn't explicitly ban rotaries. They just changed the rules so that the teams had to use Formula 1 engines (3.5 liter) to compete. Everything in an effort to get the continental Europeans back on the podium. The English (Jaguar) and Japanese (Mazda) were effectively shunned from Le Mans due to Jag's 7.3 V12 and Mazda's 2.6 R4.

Remember the two big teams at Le Mans lately are French and German. No way in hell will the ACO put any rules in place to stop them from competing...
 

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