Last June 23, Mazda celebrated the 30th Anniversary of its 24 hours of Le Mans victory. The said win, which took place on July 23, 1991 was the first ever Le Mans victory by a Japanese car company. The car that helped Mazda cross the finish line during the 59th edition of Le Mans was of course the now legendary 787B rotary powered race car. Of note, Mazda has been participating in the 24 hours of Le Mans since 1974, and thus has evolved its race cars until that fateful day in 1991.
The Mazda 787B, the car that won the 1991 24h of Le Mans for Mazda
Besides Le Mans however, Mazda has dipped its toes in other well-known racing events. From grassroots racing in its home country of Japan, to the challenging backwoods tracks of the World Rally Championship. In all these racing events, Mazda was a force to be reckoned with.
Even at the US-based International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), Mazda made a name for itself with the IMSA-spec, rotary-propelled GTU RX-7. It was the 1970s, and the aforementioned cars managed to finish 1-2 in their class whilst competing against more established IMSA competitors. Thus the RX-7’s reputation was cemented, and it continued to compete at IMSA until 1993.
The RX-7 GTO achieved the 100th IMSA win for the RX-7
And when speaking of Mazda performance, we cannot ignore how the RX-7 skyrocketed in popularity among car tuners and modders around the world. Then of course, there’s the Mazdaspeed series of consumer models, which include the Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata, the Mazdaspeed6, and Mazdaspeed3, among others. All of these are still sought after by gearheads, and many are still being used to compete in a wide array of events.
More recently, Mazda is still very much into motorsports. There's the Roadster Party Race in Japan, and the MX-5 Cup Miata one-make MX-5 race in the US. In the ASEAN region, its Thai subsidiary by the name of Mazda Sales Thailand Co. Ltd is also an active competitor at the Thailand Super Series with its Mazda2 Skyactiv-D model. Just last year, it won the overall championship for the said race.
The MX-5 Cup Miata one-make race in the US
With all that said, Mazda is still building cars that exemplify the joyful experience of driving. From the affordable Mazda2, even to the comfortable Mazda CX-9, all were built on years upon years of motorsport experience. Sure, most of the marque’s present-day models are more on the sensible side of motoring, although if you take any Mazda for a drive today, you’ll still feel that the sporty character is still there.
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