Mazda Le Mans return just a dream

The star of the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Mazda’s 787B, is unlikely to be knocked from the top of the marque’s racing history any time soon.

Although there’s significant passion within the company’s ranks for motorsport, there are no plans to return to the French 24-hour classic.

Mazda was the featured marque at this year’s FoS and two examples of the 787B were the stars.

While one of the quad-rotor racers was hung 25 metres in the air on this year’s Goodwood centrepiece, another took to the hillclimb circuit for a number of spirited displays alongside other rotary racers including 767, 767B sports cars and IMSA and touring car version of the RX-7.

Also on display at Goodwood was a mock-up of Mazda’s PlayStation virtual racer, the LM55. Modelled on Mazda’s view of a future hybrid racer, the concept is perhaps one of the reasons hopes are up,

But while the unique soundtrack of the 787B also raised emotions of those present for the event, senior Mazda staff members were all adamant the Goodwood presence was not a precursor for a return to sports car racing.

MX-5 project head Nobuhiro Yamamoto told motoring.com.au a Le Mans return was a “dream” for him and the company, but said it remained just that.

“We all dream of returning to Le Mans,” he told motoring.com.au.

“But there are no plans,” he said.

Mazda Australia sales and marketing chief Alastair Doak echoed Yamamoto-san’s thoughts.

“I’m not that close to it... We’d love to see it but I think there would have to be [rule] changes, before it could happen,” he said.

Le Mans’ rules currently do not allow rotary racers but there had been hopes the car-maker may return to the 24-hour event with a turbo-diesel powered LMP1 car.

Some of the hopes stemmed from the fact Mazda’s US operation has turbo-diesel SKYACTIV-D race cars in the top Prototype Class in IMSA’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

However, Mazda may return to local racetracks, albeit at a much more modest level. Doak says Mazda Australia is evaluating the potential of extending the new one-make MX-5-based Global Challenge to local racetracks.

“It’s very early days,” he told motoring.com.au.

“There are a number of business models under which the series might be run. We’re a long way from making a decision. We’ve really only started to look at how it might work locally,” he said.

If Mazda Australia was to field the championship Down Under, Doak says the cars would likely be sold as turn-key, completed racers.

“A right-hand drive spec is locked in and a supplier in the US has started building [LHD] cars [for the US series],” he explained.

“We haven’t spoken to CAMS. If we decided to go ahead there are a few options where the series could run,” he added.