M3R, RX-7sp & 911RS CS results in 95??

[trent from punchy]

it was a 4cyl 968CS that it was competing against in the races, not a 911.

[morerevsm3]

M3R (only 15 built) had alloy flywheel and AP Racing twin plate clutch that people had a lot of trouble driving with if unfamiliar with them, they were to heavy to be effective in GT production against the giant killing mazda, but did extremely well in events like targa tasmania etc

[walkie]

I saw an RX-7 SP on the Hume near Campbelltown on Saturday. Looked great

[gxxr]

it was a 4cyl 968CS that it was competing against in the races, not a 911.

Up at Bathurst, that's true, but Mazda was also running the production Rx7, when the event was moved to Eastern Creek and the specials were allowed to run, the 911 RSCS was the competition.

The M3R never actually ran in the event, believe Gardner deemed it uncompetitive.

Tank capacity of the Mazda is 110 litres if you tale the word of the guy who made them.

[sejanus]

yeah I've got the video at home. they also ran against the 911 RSCS as gxxr notes - and the rx7's still had aircon! :p

[AndyMac]

You haven't seen a FD, till you have seen the SPII.

When I saw that car, it looked like it had a buff and polish job, top AND underneath the fucker too.

[itsnotagsr]

A friend of mine had an M3R until someone decided that it would be better off in sweden than in his garage.

Re the 12 hour, I thought it was because the SPs had bigger fuel tanks than any other car and hence didn't have to stop as often.

[Aaron]

Mazda was winning due to a great car built by a great team. They pioneered cold fueling (chilling the fuel being loaded into the car to get more volume into the tanks and do charge cooling etc).. Their strategy was without a doubt the best in race etc.

The Porsches had great drivers and great prep but just lacked that total "big picture" that Horsely ran the team with.

A.

[Peter...]

A friend of mine had an M3R until someone decided that it would be better off in sweden than in his garage.

Re the 12 hour, I thought it was because the SPs had bigger fuel tanks than any other car and hence didn't have to stop as often.

Yeah but being a Rotor, wouldn't that advantage be burned away anyway?

[Road_Terrorist]

Of mild interest is the fact that both the M3-R and RX7 SP were models unique to Australia. The M3-R was a bit of a halfway effort though, basically a normal M3 with a few options deleted (air con & radio, not much else) and a slightly more powerful engine and upgraded driveline.

They probably would have been better off starting with one of the more lighter more racing specific versions of the M3 like the Lightweight or GT and adding the more powerful engine, but maybe they were trying to do it on the cheap.

Pity Mazda never went ahead with the SP2, that was a very nice looking machine.

I remember they also did a Eunos 800M SP as well, although it wasn't particularly extreme, just some minor changes like wheel/suspension I think. I remember seeing this one in a car yard on my way home from work a couple of years back and was strongly considering buying it, was a very nice looking car in an understated way and different without screaming about it. I thought it would make a nice comfy daily driver, but then I could have got a faster, but more typical BMW 535i for a similar price at the time, but eventually I decided I would save my money and go overseas instead :knock: .

ha, I even still have the pics I took when I first saw it.

[sejanus]

oddly enough, one of the reasons the 787b won lemans was fuel economy, though mind you it was being run against things like v10's.

not sure about bathurst/EC races though. my rx7 was pretty decent generally but when you hammered it you could almost see the gauge dropping in realtime.

Yeah but being a Rotor, wouldn't that advantage be burned away anyway?

[fdrx7]

Yeah but being a Rotor, wouldn't that advantage be burned away anyway?

Nope. Flat chat their burn rate is actually very good. Don't foget that the 787b that won Le Mans in 1991 was effective in a fuel economy class. It's only at low RPM that the less effective sealing and poorer thermal efficiency really hurt them.

The race SPs had a bigger IC than the road cars as well as more than a couple of other extra goodies. The longer range, combined with needing less pad stops (the porkers were harsher on brakes) gave them a solid advantage. I think 95 may have been the year they used refrigerated fuel too.

Sadly of the two MMM SPs they brought to EC, the one they built for outright pace (the black one) was binned in final practice in a very big shunt. The white car was really the insurance policy in case something happened to the 'A' car. Would have been fantastic to see that thing racing in anger

[fdrx7]

To answer the original poster, yeah I remember that article. I seem to recall that the conclusion was that the rx-7 SP was half-arsed and would get soundly flogged by the 'real' race cars. I can't recall who wrote it but I do wonder if mazda sent him some press clippings when they comprehensively thrashed the others!

[sejanus]

i do remember reading that article, and yeah i remember a somewhat negative impression of the rx7.

of course I'd give my left nut for an SP, though realistically a series 8 is a better car.

[arcane]

I seem to recall reading the 787B had a fuel enonomy of 52L/100km in that Le Mans race. Hate to think what the other cars were like!