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Mazda Brings 1991 Winning 787B Car Back to Le Mans

Celebrating 20 years since it became the first and only Japanese car manufacturer to win the 24-Hours of Le Mans race, Mazda decided to offer a special treat to visitors of this year’s event, and has restored and tested the winning Mazda 787B car. The car will be demonstrate on the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France on June 11, before the 2011 race begins.

In addition, the 787B will also take part in the Driver’s Parade through the Le Mans city centre a day before. Various members of the 1991 Mazda team will also return to Le Mans. One of the three winning drivers, Johnny Herbert (England), will be joined by 1991 Mazda drivers David Kennedy (Ireland), Pierre Dieudonne (Belgium) and other team members.

Since 1991, the Le Mans winning Mazda 787B has been on display at the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. The restoration work was carried out by current Mazda employees who participated in the company’s original Le Mans Challenge Project, along with engineers from Mazda’s subsidiary engineering company Mazda E&T.

The restored 787B has been tested by Mazda’s in-house development drivers, and its performance has been confirmed by former Mazda factory drivers Yoshimi Katayama, Takashi Yorino and Yojiro Terada at Mazda’s Mine Proving Ground in western Japan.

“Mazda is founded on a desire to ‘never stop challenging.’ This spirit brings Mazda Group employees together across the globe, and it inspires us to achieve the demanding goals we set ourselves,” said Takashi Yamanouchi, Mazda’s representative director, chairman of the board, president and CEO.

“Exactly 50 years ago, in 1961, Mazda commenced development of the rotary engine. The road from this beginning until our 1991 victory at Le Mans, and on to our current SKYACTIV technology development programme, is built upon our spirit of challenge. 2011 is set to be another landmark year for the entire Mazda Group, as we enter our SKYACTIV era with the global introduction of our next-generation vehicles.”
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