The car world lost a good friend today, with a 1989 Mazda 767b Le Mans race car tragically crashing out of the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb event.
Seniji Hoshino was behind the wheel for a timed sprint of the iconic climb, escaping the incident with only minor injuries.
The Mazda 767b has a long and illustrious racing pedigree. Despite lacking the overall pace of some of its competitors, the Mazda’s reliability played a massive part in its 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in the GTP class in 1989.
It was also one of the last race cars to be powered by a rotary engine, and it remains the only Japanese vehicle and the only rotary-powered vehicle to win at Le Mans.
Power could be tuned up to 671kW/607Nm with its quad-rotor engine, but this was taken back to the 521kW mark for better reliability.
More photos can be found at Jalopnik.com
The winner of LeMans is a 787B, not a 767B.