Mazda MXR-01
The Mazda MXR-01 is a group C - sports car , the Mazda factory team Mazdaspeed in the 1992 season in the World Sportscar Championship began. This was Mazda's last involvement in racing, starting with the Le Mans project in 1983.
development
After Mazda's great success (1st place) in the 1991 Le Mans 24-hour race with the 787B with a rotary engine , the company management thought they could continue in racing and prove that this success was not a flash in the pan. Due to the reorganization of the sports car world championship by the FIA in 1992, the problem arose for Mazda that rotary engines were no longer allowed. Instead, teams should use technologically advanced V10 engines similar to those used in Formula 1 . Mazda, which did not have many other racing engines in use besides its Wankel machines, decided against developing its own new engine for reasons of cost. In addition, Mazda would have had to build a completely new car for the V10 engine, as the 787B was unsuitable to accommodate such a large engine.
So Mazda decided to buy an already existing V10 engine. The decision was made to use an engine from Judd Engine Developments , who had developed their GV10-3.5 l-V10 in 1991 for Formula 1. The machines were to be manufactured as Mazda engines with the type designation MV10 .
The new chassis was also bought from Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) , who had worked with Jaguar until they left racing at the end of 1991. Jaguar's last racing car, the XJR-14 , was offered to other customers by TWR in 1992 and Mazda took the opportunity to use a car that Jaguar won the championship in 1991. Like the engine, the car was also manufactured as a Mazda and named MXR-01.
Unfortunately, the XJR-14, which won in 1991, was not revised after the season and Mazda did not have the technical understanding or the financial resources to develop the vehicle to the same extent as it did for example. B. Peugeot and Toyota 1992 did. The Judd engine was also quite weak compared to the engines of the other works teams.
Racing history
Mazda managed to finish third in the 1992 World Sports Car Championship; her best result was a 2nd place in the 500 km race at Silverstone . At the 24-hour race at Le Mans , the team led in the first few hours and finished the race in an honorable 4th place. Only one car was used during the entire season, only two cars were entered at Le Mans.
In Japan, Mazdaspeed competed in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC) with a single MXR-01 and could not record much success, considering that they only achieve 2nd place in the constructors' championship with only two competitors ( Toyota and Nissan ) could. In races in which the MXR-01 had no competitor in its class, however, it was also unable to collect any points, which of course had an unfavorable effect on the overall score.
After the 1993 season, both the World Sports Car Championship and the JSPC were no longer held, and after the RX-792P no longer competed in IMSA races after 1992, Mazda was completely eliminated from racing.
Undercarriages
A total of five MXR-01 were built by TWR for Mazda:
- MXR-01 # 001 - used in the JPSC only.
- MXR-01 # 002 - Replacement car for tests in Le Mans.
- MXR-01 # 003 - Replacement car for tests in Le Mans.
- MXR-01 # 004 - competed in all races in the World Sports Car Championship .
- MXR-01 # 005 - second car only for the 24 Hours of Le Mans .
Web links
- Mazda racing car index ( Memento from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )