12/07/2018
FEATURE BY MAX NOBLE
Well dear reader, with Fernando winning Le Mans with Toyota, the second Japanese manufacturer to manage this commendable triumph, now is a perfect time to cast a long look over the shoulder, back over half a century, to catch a glimpse of engineering inventiveness that was the genesis of a very particular motoring legend that would eventually be crowned by Mazda winning the 1991 edition of Le Mans in fine style.
This is a tale of engineering inventiveness, persistence, and an object lesson in how the FIA reacts to innovation...
So settle back with a favoured flavour of tea, or if the sun is over the yard arm in your nook of this wonderful planet, possibly a G&T or some other suitable relaxant, and walk with me awhile into this fascinating tale.
It was 1st February 1957 when Doctor Walter Frode successfully started the first Wankel engine. A most remarkable engine designed by Felix Wankel who had the impassioned idea of removing reciprocating parts from the internal combustion engine to make it simpler, and, he hoped, as a result, more compact and reliable.
Wankel was not a trained engineer. He had a love of mechanical devices, and had previously expended significant energy cataloguing the rotary mechanical concepts of previous ages. So it was that still in the shadow of World War One, the young Felix came to Heidelberg. Not to study at the famed University, but to work for a local bookseller. Here, in the solitude of the storeroom Felix honed his technical drawing skills, while completing technical training via correspondence. Over the following years his reputation slowly grew, but it was work on sealing reciprocating piston engines that gained Felix engineering respect, not wild ideas for revolutionary engine concepts. In 1936 Felix moved to Berlin and commenced work for the Aviation Ministry's Central Research Establishment. His transformation into respected engineer thus commencing just prior to the Second World War.
Time flowed during a dark period in history, with an eventual arrival in December 1951, and we find Felix joining NSU (Neckarsulmer Strickmachinen Union) a respected motorcycle builder. Here he gently pushed his idea for a rotary engine, and was just as gently pushed back. By 1954 Felix had waited long enough, he gave NSU an ultimatum, develop my engine, or I'm leaving. Thankfully they did not call his bluff.
The birth of the rotary was far from easy. NSU hovered on the edge of financial ruin, and a major cash injection from Curtis-Wright, an American aircraft engine manufacturer for the rights to develop the engine, was required to keep rotary development moving. The rotary appeared in a number of experimental American cars, including Ford Mustangs, and in later years, even a Citroen GS Birotor, but the most lasting early fame came from the NSU Ro80 running a rotary refined by NSU's Dr. Frode. Rather than elation at this success Felix felt betrayed as his desires for an elegant, smooth running pure rotary, he felt, had not been met.
The Ro80 was produced from 1967 to 1977, with a little over 37,000 being built. By this time NSU had been subsumed into the Volkswagen empire via a merger with Auto Union. Then came the first Japanese interest from Nissan, who took a Wankel license in 1970 for production of engines from 30 to 230hp. A prototype was proudly displayed at the 1972 Tokyo motor show, with a promise of a lithe sports car for 1974. Then, for the first time, the motoring world felt the might of the OPEC empire, and spiking oil prices drove a stake through the beating heart of interest in the exciting, but overly thirsty rotary concept. Nissan permanently cancelled the rotary project.
Toyota meanwhile spent time accessing the concept from afar, and when the oil crisis hit simply ceased investigation with little lost.
The Americans had not been idle, GM was very active in researching rotaries even to the point of displaying a twin-rotor Corvette at the 1973 Frankfurt motor show. Ford meanwhile was spending money more to shadow GM rather than due to any deep company belief that rotaries were the future. Another stunning concept car, the Corvette four rotor, was shown at the Paris motor show, and it was rumoured the 1975 Chevrolet Monza would have a rotary option.
Then, just as it appeared Felix's rotary dream was going mainstream, the US introduced tough new emissions laws to be phased in over the coming production years. Even after the millions they had spent GM looked at the emissions standards set to be introduced for 1977, and worried about their regular engines meeting requirements, let alone the still mostly experimental rotary. Felix's dream was stamped out at GM with the engine again failing to see the light of day in full production.
Finally only one company kept faith with the concept and retained an unshakable determination to bring it to market. The Japanese company Toyo Kogyo. Company president Tsuneji Matsuda personally instructed Kenichi Yamamoto to investigate the engine. Engineers toiled, markets developed, and Toyo Kogyo became Mazda. Their first car was offered to the public in 1960. By mid-1964 this tiny company had over 180 staff focused on the rotary concept. It soon became the case that this internal project was simply so big that failure of the rotary engine would take the company with it.
So it was that May 1967 saw the first Mazda Cosmo roll off the production line. Under the neat, low, bonnet line was a twin rotor, dual side-ported engine breathing deeply through a Hitachi four-barrel carburettor. The tragically fragile apex seals of the NSU rotarys had been addressed by the adoption of new exotic materials, based around a Carbon-aluminium mix, rather than the original cast iron. Less than a decade after presenting their first modest car, the R360, here was quietly respectful Mazda presenting a rotary engine sports car to the world. With a hint of Ford Thunderbird to some angles from the outside, and a clear homage to British sports cars on the inside, down to a clean uncluttered dash, and a three spoke wooden wheel, the two door coupe was a fitting sports car home for Japan's production rotary. Over the next five years 1,519 Cosmos were produced. A tiny number, each representing a loss for the company, but it achieved its wider aim of introducing the world to Mazda as a serious carmaker.
1970 and Mazda founded its American headquarters in Seattle, Washington state. The modest first shipment for sale being 380 small cars. Back in Japan Mazda dealers were bogged down in uncleared inventory. An engineer tasked with recasting Mazda products in the public mind was Akio Uchiyama. 1975 found him working near Suzuka. He became convinced that a rotary powered true sports car was the answer to refreshing Mazda in the public mind. At the same time Sinpei Hanaoka, a former banker and now a Mazda board member, toured America and came to the same conclusion to inject energy to the American market. Mazda needed a rotary powered sports car to create a lasting image in the public mind of a progressive, inventive, capable carmaker.
So it was that yet more engineering determination was poured into the Rotary concept. The result was that in early 1978 a new delicate, slim-nosed sports car started rolling down the Mazda production lines for a 1979 model year launch. Now the success of Mazda and the rotary were completely linked. If this incarnation of the rotary failed it was likely that after the time, money, and focus expended Mazda would vanish with it.
The World welcomed the RX-7 with open arms. Slightly shorter than a contemporary Datsun 280Z, but with a longer wheelbase, and with a "front mid-engined" layout giving a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution front to rear, thanks to the compact size of the rotary, it was a remarkable creation for a carmaker that had only presented its first production car for sale less than twenty years previously.
Californian tuning house Racing Beat promptly set a new class record on the Bonneville salt flats in 1979, and Mazda as a racing house was on its way in the USA. Racing Beat would repeat this feat many times, each time proving to the "you cannot beat cubic inches" American market that a crazy-spinning rotary could indeed do just that.
The second occasion of Racing Beat record breaking was in 1986, once more on the Salt Flats. But by this time Mazda had generated a firm following in sports car racing. In 1986 RX-7's owned the IMSA GTU class.
In fact by the mid-1980's the RX-7 was the car to beat in a number of classes. Jim Downing took the GTU title in 1982. Jack Baldwin in 1984, and 1985. An RX-7 then won the 1986 Daytona, while Tom Kendal would win the GTU Driver's championship in 1987.
Victories came in GTO, SCCA, GT-2, but not the championship success seen in GTU. All this American success was great, and mirrored by sporting success back in Japan, but Europe was still not in love with the rotary concept. Mazda wanted a headlining European win to grab the attention of the European sports car world. What better way than with an attempt on Le Mans?
While not designated an RX-7, as the American track cars were, the Mazda 787 and 787B were bespoke prototype track racers based off years of rotary racing experience.
Road going RX-7s all had twin-rotor engines, which by 1990 had also been turbo-charged with great success. The engines could rev much higher than reciprocating engines of similar power output, due to all the mass rotating in the same direction, and not requiring the violent change of direction required for a more usual piston design. The 787 was a quad-rotor design that was in turn a development of the earlier 13J engine. It displaced 2622cc (swept-volume equivalence was a major contested point throughout the rotary's racing career), and developed 522kW at 9,000 rpm. It had peripheral intake ports, and a continually variable geometry intake to ensure clean burning of fuel throughout the rev range. Incomplete combustion had long been a rotary issue due to the long narrow shape of the combustion volume compared to a regular cylinder. To further improve fuel combustion a third spark plug was used per rotor. The resultant engine proved highly reliable. The Mercedes, Porsche, and Jaguar engines of the time produced more power over a single timed lap, but proved fractionally less reliable over a race distance. How ironic that the little engine famed for exploding apex seals now had reliability as a strength!
The 787 and 787B contested Group C sports prototype races in the World Sportscar Championship, and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
Neatly crafted around a Carbon/Kevlar composite monocoque the cars were a careful mix of requirements to meet FISA and IMSA regulations and hence race globally.
The 787 contested the 1990 Le Mans race, while the 787B contested the 1991 race.
The 787 made its competition debut in April 1990 in the second round of the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. Two 787's were entered into Le Mans that year. Stefan Johansson drove the first car with David Kennedy and Pierre Dieudonne (No.201), while the second car was piloted by Bertrand Gachot, Volker Weidler, and Johnny Herbert (No.202).
Both cars lasted well and were reasonably placed as the night phase of the race was drawing to a close. In the early hours of Sunday morning No.201 developed an oil leak and retired from the lead of the GTP class. No.202 continued successfully for another two hours, before extreme engine heat caused an electrical failure and then fire. The older 767B survived to finish 20th overall. A promising race, but nothing of great delight for Mazda to proudly show the European car-buying market. Mazda went on to a modest 4th place in the JSPC with the season filled with a number of mechanical failures on the cars.
For 1991 Mazda refocused with detail changes to the engine, especially the continuously variable intake design, and ran three 787s. Two for the JSPC season, and one for a full Sportscar World Championship season. Oreca ran the World Championship team, with Jacky Ickx as team consultant. The regular drivers were once more David Kennedy, and Pierre Dieudonne, with Maurizio Sandro Sala joining them.
1991 was the 59th running of Le Mans, and that year it was the fourth round of the WSC. Mazdaspeed entered two brand new 787B's. No.18 driven by Johansson, Kennedy, and Sala, and No.55 driven by Weidler, Herbert and Gachot.
No.18 lined-up 23rd on the grid, while No.55 started from 19th. Based on a highly successful test session at Paul Ricard earlier in the year, the team felt confident in treating the race as a shorter sprint rather than the usual 24-hour approach. As a result they fully intended to be aggressive with strategy from the start.
Over the early stages of the race No.55 moved up to a solid third place, while the No.18 car was two laps behind, using less fuel, but lapping with the hindrance of a lower top speed as a result. Third then became second when the Mercedes-Benz C11 of Michael Schumacher, Fritz Kreutzpointer, and Karl Wendlinger first spun, and then was forced to retire with gearbox issues.
Both cars survived the night, like the year before. For the team these final hours of the race now became an agony of waiting to see if the aggressive approach was going to cost them by visiting mechanical failures on them with the finish in sight.
With two hours left to run the leading Mercedes of Alain Ferte retied with mechanical issues. No.55 was leading! The car came in for the final scheduled stop, and Johnny Herbert, sensing victory, requested to remain in the car. Easing back on to the circuit for the final hour Herbert drove smoothly to a delightful win. 362 laps, 4,932.2Km, and Mazda had a headline victory that the entire driving world could understand.
The modest maker of compact cars, that had only rolled the Cosmos out into the light of day in 1967, was now less than 25 years later standing on the top step, victorious in one of the toughest 24-hour races in the World. Felix's little spinning wonder had finally proven it could beat them all on the open track. The No.18 car finished sixth, and an older 787 (No.56) finished eighth. The other top five finishers were three Jaguar XJR-12s and one Mercedes C11.
Showing their delight at such innovation, the motor racing world promptly reacted by banning Rotary engines from further competition for the next season. It didn't matter. Little Mazda had become the first Japanese manufacturer to win Le Mans, and by keeping faith it became the only manufacturer to win Le Mans with a non-reciprocating engine.
The winning car now resides in Mazda's Hiroshima museum and is generally regarded as a classic example of the 1990/91 Group C prototype cars.
Felix's engine lived on in the RX-7 until 2002 in Japan, and until 2012 in the less sport focused RX-8.
So Fernando we salute you for your second Japanese sourced Le Mans victory, and FIA we hope that you do not act too quickly to be too prescriptive and kill off beautiful engine concepts that will simply not see the light of day due to your obsession with ever-tightening rules.
I like to think the rumours of the RX-7's return to our roads are never too far away, and the sweet memory of that 1991 Le Mans victory will focus a new generation of engineers who love something just a little different, and we can only hope they might just manage to persuade the finance department that it all makes sense to get into a spin one more time.
Max Noble.
Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here