24 hours of Le Mans 2010 official thread...

[Rover V8]

Funny, I always thought that the Mazda won because it completed more laps in 24 hours than the 3 Jaguars which finished behind it. I guess that wasn't the reason then.

The 3.5L engine rule was rather convenient don't you think? In one fell swoop, the only rotary engine ever raced was banned following the year it won. The ACO would have brought pressure to bear considering that these upstart Japanese dared to win their Frenchy motor race, after all the cars which qualified 3rd and 8th magically appeared on the front row in 1991.

The 3.5L engine rule wasn't brought in because of the 'upstart Japanese daring to win' Le Mans, and the rotary engine certainly wasn't banned as a result of that win- unless Bernie Ecclestone is clairvoyant...

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

[wedge]

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.

[BDunnell]

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!

[wedge]

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!

Can Am?

[boesel]

Hi everybody,
here is available a complete report about the 24 hours of Le Mans:
http://www.connectingrod.it/LeMansSe...h/24h_eng.html