Great series of posts, Mark. Will PM you before I venture to Le Mans...
There must have been two MAZDA teams at Le Mans? I reviewed VINTAGE MOTORSPORT Jan/Feb 2005.1 "DYNAMIC DUO!" TWINS: 1984 Mazda-Lola T-616 Le Mans. Also, I am sure it is obvious to some, but why are the Rotary engines always much louder? I saw the LP2 car at Petit LeMans, and could see the red glow that seemed to originate from deep inside the engine itself! It was almost as though you could look inside the bowels of the car as it shrieked by. LOLA T616 MAZDA RACECARS FIRE UP FANS AND MAKE HEART POUNDING HISTORY AGAIN AT 2004 U.S. SPORTSCAR INVITATIONAL Lola T616 Mazda IRVINE, Calif. In 1984 the Lola T616 Mazda racecars made motorsports history. This weekend at the Road and Track U.S. Sports Car Invitational, the Mazdas make a triumphant return as fans have a rare opportunity to see them complete their first hot laps in 20 years. When the Lola T616 Mazda first took to the track, it featured a modified 13B rotary engine and was rated at 300-horsepower. As with all rotary engines, the T616 lacked the displacement of competitors engines, but more than made up for this short-coming with incredible, high-revving reliability and the engines small size and low weight. "That engine was absolutely guaranteed for 24 hours without a hitch," said Jim Busby, owner of Jim Busby Racing and driver of the historic T616. "At the time [1984 season] we went almost a full year without an engine failure." BFGoodrich Tires entered two Mazda Lola T616s in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans C Junior (C2) group. Car 68, driven by Americans John Morton and John OSteen, with Japanese driver Yoshami Katayama, took first in class and placed tenth overall. The Number 67 car was piloted by Americans Jim Busby and Rick Knoop as well as Dutchman Boy Hayje and placed third in its class, twelfth overall. Throughout 1984, the T616s had continued success at the worlds greatest racetracks, including the Monza 1000km in Italy, the Nurburgring 1000km in Germany and the Mt. Fuji 1000km in Japan. Mazda continued to compete at Le Mans with a series of racecars purpose-built for the demanding circuit. The impressive, purpose-built Mazda 787B featured a four-rotor R 26B engine good for 700-horsepower and propelled Mazda into motorsports history with the first -- and to this date, the only -- overall Le Mans win for a Japanese manufacturer. The number 55 car, piloted by Englands Johnny Herbert, Germanys Bertrand Gachot and Luxembourgs Volker Weidler led for the last three hours of the history-making race, finishing 27.2 km ahead of their nearest competitor. "The T616 and 787B owe a large portion of their dominance to their Mazda rotary engines," said Steve Sanders, manager, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development. "Mazdas rotary engines still dominate in competition, whether with an RX-8 contending in the Grand-Am Cup, the Renesis rotary-powered Pro Formula Mazda open-wheel series, or the return of the rotary-powered four-door RX-8 sports car." After Mazdas resounding win in 1991, the Le Mans sanctioning body banned rotary engines due to difficulties in classifying and grouping the unique powerplants against standard piston engines. Although the action by the sanctioning body ensured the 787Bs legacy as the only car to ever win Le Mans with a rotary engine, the ruling also effectively truncated Mazdas Le Mans racing efforts, as all work was centered on rotary-engined vehicles. The T616s laid dormant for 20 years until Jim Busby, original driver of car 67, tracked them down and restored them to their former glory. The T616 recently benefited from a full, frame-off restoration. Finally back in top form, these historic racecars will once again run rampant at Road & Tracks Sports Car Invitational to be held April 30 to May 2 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Uhm... They flipped twice at the Mulsanne bump in practice. The second flip was the morning of the race. The photos shown are of current F1 star Mark Webber during that second shunt. The third flip was what caused MB to withdraw from the race. That was Peter Dumbreck flipping just before Indianapolis at an estimated 200 MPH. It is dramatically captured on film and can be downloaded from the internet. MB withdraw all remaining cars instantly and later "negotiated" with the ACO to have the Mulsanne bump flattened off to prevent 2/3 of the accidents from happening again. The ACO eventually gave in to this and (in my eyes) destroyed part of the circuit to cover for MB's failing aerodynamics only to see MB withdrawing completely from long distance racing before ever having covered a single lap on the "new" circuit. Fact remains that the MB's are the ONLY cars ever having encountered this problem at Le Mans (the other flipping shunts mentioned are at other tracks) so blaming the track as the cause? No... not in MY eyes anyway....
Just searched the Bol d'Or / 24 Heures Moto records but again no Linder... Only have the winners for these races btw but then again... if it's not in the car version of the 24 Hours, het should be listed there but to no avail again...
Probably the prettiest Le Mans cars ever (but that remains a matter of personal taste of course). To spice that up with some memorabilia... this is J.L. Schlesser's overall from his MB-Sauber time at Le Mans... (sold, so NO commercial post... ;-) ) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
>>> Nothing vague about it. I meant I only "overheard something". Tsssssss..... and I thought they were more readily available than Saubers.... Well... then there is nothing left than to parade through the house in one of these your convince your wife that these IS room for one more car should the Bentley boys change their mind.... Uh... I mean... the Volkswagen boys... grinnnnnnnnnn Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Close, Audi was calling the shots. I couldn't get a real car, even asked if they would build me a tub. Answer was still "no". I have all of the chassis information at home, I know that one ended up in private hands in Japan. I'd even take the car that was wrecked in testing, but it is sitting in a crate in Crewe, probably never to be rebuilt. Shame. I haven't given up.
To me that's all Volkswagen... ;-) There should be a couple of strings we could pull... Let me ask around.
www.risicompetizione.com This is the Ferrari of Houston team owned by Giuseppe Risi. Won class at LeMans in 1998 with 333SP, No. 18, finishing 6th overall. Also won Petite Lemans and 6th at Sebring. Do a google search and look at all the sites that have info on the Risi Competizione team. They have also done very well with the 360GT and Maserati MC12. In 2001 they completed a perfect season in ALMS by winning every race with a Nissan Lola. They also set the pole at the 24 Hours at Daytona and led wire to wire, never dropping out of first place, even during pit stops. This is the only time this has ever been done at Daytona. I was with them for three years, 2000 thru 2003. Great fun............ A lot of the guys on here know Mr. Risi quite well and hold a high degree of respect for him. Judge4re helped out on the Challenge team one year. Hey Judge4re, how you doin'???
Well, but I'll be doing better when I am stateside. If you talk to the guys, I wouldn't mind turning wrenches again. New F430 Challenge looks to be getting closer to a "proper" race car. Spicy can help as well. Grocery biz still good?
Grrr, back to my sons signon. What is wrong with this computer? I hardly ever get to speak to the guys in Houston. I dropped by FoH back in August when I was in town for a week and had a good conversation with Joe but Mr. Risi was out of town, as usual, so I did not get to visit with him. Tony left FoD and opened up his own Hyundai dealership in McKinney but got out of that and works for Putnam Auto Leasing. Grocery business is going as well as the grocery business can. I have been transferred to another store. This one is on Carrier Parkway, just south of I-20 in Grand Prairie, Texas. It runs about $450,000 and up per week. It is the highest volume store they have put me in so far. In the past 18 months they have had me in stores in Irving, Arlington, Fort Worth,Bedford, Hurst Duncanville, Trophy Club, Southlake and now Grand Prairie. Nine stores in 18 months plus completing a six month Management Leadership course. Whew, I need a place to settle down into. Are you back in China? If not, where are you now? Good to hear from you..........
I'm still in Shanghai. They wanted to move me to the mothership in NJ, but Spicy and I want to start a family next year (read: be closer to home), so we're going to move back to AL in February. Is Joe running the team or should I send Mr. Risi a fax?
Joe is running sales up front. I would suggest Mr. Risi. I do not know if they have made any changes in the personnel on the team or not since I do not get to visit with them as much as before. BTW, I would avoid NJ also......................I just an old Texas boy and most of NJ does not interest me. There are a few really nice areas but most of it holds no interest to me..........
BTW, I wore my black Risi Competizione sweater to work today. I'll send Mr. Risi a fax. Sorry for the side track everyone...
Yes, sorry for highjacking the thread. BTW. I was wrong. It was 2002 when the Risi Comp guys worked with Rand Racing and their Nissan Lolas to take ten poles, set ten fastest laps and win 10 races in SRP11 to finish with a perfect season. The same year they won the 24 at Daytona, set pole, fastest lap and never fell out of 1st the entire race..........Amazing
sorry? hell i really enjoyed reading that ! i never knew you " helped out" and "turned wrenches" . geeze, i cannot imagine the fun that it must be to "be there" in the thick of it. hats off to you again Erik, and happy hunting. i would love to see you get one of those racecars! michael
I don't think that Erik's schedule allowed him as much time running with "the team" as he would have liked. I remember that he called me several times when he was able to free a weekend to see if he could get in.
