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Three historic, storied Mazda race cars ran demonstration/exhibition laps during the Friday lunch break at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It was one of the many extras as part of the four-day weekend of Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
All three drivers are Mazda employees. YOJIRO TERADA is a factory driver, and is said to be the world’s most experienced Le Mans driver, having participated in more than twenty races. He’s never won. WHELDON MUNSEY of San Francisco is in charge of Mazda Dealer Affairs, and ROBERT DAVIS is also a civilian Mazda employee.
Munsey drove the No.77 1991 Mazda RX-7 92B, the last evolution of that Mazda RX-7. The car only ran one year and then the plug was pulled on the program as rules changed. Munsey is also racing the car in Group 6B for 1981-1989 FIA Mfg. Championship Cars and IMSA GTP Cars. He qualified second in a field of 21, of which only 18 ran.
In the practice sessions, Munsey said he heeds the big Corporate Light which is activated on his dash. In other words, don’t hurt the bosses car. In the exhibition run, which was filmed by Mazda, Munsey clocked a 144 mph on the speed sign on top of the Start-Finish bridge. I was up in Race Control with all the stewards, and we all avidly watched the cars and the increasing speeds. When Munsey hit 144, it was the last demo lap of several. He had started last of the three, but finished first.
In the exhibition run, Davis drove the IMSA GTO Championship winning car, driven originally by PETE HALSMER. Mazda won ten consecutive IMSA GTO championships, 1982-1982 – an IMSA record for more wins than any other model. He also is running in Group 6B, No.56 1991 Mazda 787. He qualified fifth, but now the Mazda engineers are all over the car, trying to ascertain why the door flew up during the session and cracked the windshield.
Friday, Terada drove the wildly multi-colored orange and green Mazda 787B. The car, which Terada didn’t race, won the 1991 Le Mans. It was/is the only Japanese car to win Le Mans. That year it beat the Jaguars, and its win “defied convention.” The game plan at that race was to eschew saving the car and they went all out. Terada raced a sister-car Mazda 787.
Also in the exhibit is one of the only two 1967 Mazda Cosmo cars to be exported to the United States. It launched May 30 of that year. The car started out belonging to Curtis-Wright, the rights holder of the Wankel rotary engine. It was the world’s first dual-rotor rotary engine production car. It had three more owners, and now belongs to Mazda.
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Mazda has a huge long transporter with the exhibit. Instead of the vinyl graphic wrap used by other large transporters, Mazda installed a (temporary) story board, to exactly fit over the side of the transporter, with cut outs for the doors, etc. On it is displayed the history of the Mazda race cars, going through the various eras and ending with the new hydrogen car.
