Results 141 to 145 of 145
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23rd June 2010, 17:11 #141
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Originally Posted by Rollo
The 3.5 litre regs were first introduced at the beginning of the 1989 season, so were planned a good 2 years before Mazda's LM win
Like wedge said a few posts back, the rules were in transition from the old 'fuel formula' Group C to the new 3.5 litre/750kg rules-
IIRC if it hadn't been for the FIA allowing the older cars back in for one more season in 1991 because several of the manufacturers and most of the privateers had bailed out by the end of 1990, the Mazda rotary, like the turbos and Jag V12 would have already been outlawed
Instead, they were allowed back in for one more year, but with a tighter fuel restriction and a higher (1000kg) minimum weight limit.
Mazda, incidentally, were running under that because they'd negotiated themselves a concession from the FIA at the start of the year allowing them to race the 787B at a minimum of something like 830 or 850kg....
They might have been more reliable and have better fuel economy- they were also being allowed to run a lot lighter than the Jags and Mercs.
The Mazda wasn't a better car overall, it just happened that the particular circumstances of 1991 gave them a chance to compete for the overall win, and on the day they did a better job of exploiting that than Merc or Jag did
I'd agree with AndyRAC- the move to 3.5 litres (by the FIA, not the ACO) had nothing to do with favouring Peugeot (who weren't even competing in sportscars when the regs were first announced) and everything to do with Bernie trying to pull the manufacturers away from sportscars and into F1
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24th June 2010, 23:23 #142
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The world economy was about to go belly up in the early 90s and the costs couldn't be justified - greatest example being the great failure of the Jag XJ220.
The world according to Taki Inoue: https://mobile.twitter.com/takiinoue/st ... 7249326080
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24th June 2010, 23:51 #143
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Let's face it, sports car racing has long been adversely affected by poorly thought-out rule-making. Look at the situation that allowed the (magnificent, of course) Porsche 917 to come about. That was as a result of efforts to make the cars slower and safer!
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25th June 2010, 14:24 #144
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Originally Posted by BDunnellThe world according to Taki Inoue: https://mobile.twitter.com/takiinoue/st ... 7249326080
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27th June 2010, 23:22 #145
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Hi everybody,
here is available a complete report about the 24 hours of Le Mans:
http://www.connectingrod.it/LeMansSe...h/24h_eng.html
I think we saw this one coming, didn't we?
F1 Guru Adrian Newey leave Redbull