The weather was unstable from the morning. Although rain fell occasionally, the warm temperatures ensured that the track surface dried up quickly. This situation played out time and time again, and eventually the demonstration run for the iconic Mazda 787B, originally scheduled for 13:30, was moved ahead to 11:30 in case the weather continued to worsen throughout the day.

“I've only just come back from driving this car in the States. I'm really happy to be able to drive it here again in front of so many Japanese fans,” commented Yojiro Terada, “Mr. Le Mans” before dashing out onto the race track. He mentioned that, with the car still set up for Le Mans, the Mazda 787B never gets past 2nd or 3rd gear at a track like Tsukuba with its low-speed corners and short straights.

Just before the demonstration run was to begin at 11:30, rain fell heavily. However, by the time Terada entered the track, the surface was once again dry. Upon entering the track, he drove through the 1st corner slowly, reducing his speed sufficiently to get through the hairpin corner and then made his way up under the DUNLOP bridge and the next hairpin corner to arrive at the back straight. On the back straight he really opened the car up, and the sound of the racing 4-rotor engine at full throttle was music to the ears of the many fans who had gathered for the event.

After finishing the demonstration run, Mr. Terada attended a talk show on a specially built stage. He talked about the advanced technology of the Mazda 787B, its surprisingly improved fuel consumption over its predecessor, his anecdotes about driving the Le Mans-winning 787B and so on. After the talk show, he posed for photographs with the 787B.

The scheduled demonstration run at 13:30 also took place, allowing the maximum number of fans to enjoy watching and listening to the mighty Mazda 787B.