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MAZDA252i (1979)
Car No. 77: T. Ikusawa / Y. Terada / C. Buchet
Qualified: 57th (4'18.88) - second reserve / Didn't start the race.
Mazda Auto Tokyo, utterly fascinated with the dream of winning at Le Mans, once again took on the challenge of the legendary event, this time in Silhouette Formula specification with the Savanna RX-7, which had been launched just one year earlier.
The car ran the 13B rotary engine and had an "i" in its name, denoting the applied-for fuel injection system. In the beginning, the Hiroshima-based Toyo Kogyo (currently Mazda) was opposed to entering the RX-7 in endurance races as the model was contributing to the future growth of the company. However, Mazda Auto Tokyo persuaded the manufacturer to enter the race after finding sponsors and engaging Tetsu Ikusawa, then a well known international level driver, to lead the charge.
However, the team faced a multitude of bad luck at Le Mans. Just after the start of qualifying, they had electrical trouble which led to an engine failure. On the second day of qualifying, after recovering from the previous woes, local driver Claude Buchet identified a problem, and ended up spending a lot of time receiving repairs. In addition, the team's lifeline driver Ikusawa was not in very good shape physically and was unable to attack in qualifying. Furthermore, after Terada finally restarted, heavy rain fell, hampering any hope the team had of improving their time. Eventually they missed out on getting through qualifying by a mere 0.96 seconds.
From this experience, Mazda Auto Tokyo learned bitterly the necessity of manufacturer support, of having its own expert racing team and the value of professional team management.
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