MXR-01
Now a personal favourite of mine, and sadly one with little to show for its awesomeness. The MXR-01 came about in the very dying embers of the Group C era. This was Mazda’s attack at the new 3.5-litre formula Group C, introduced ostensibly to foster greater collaboration with Formula 1 teams, but in reality the final death knell for the World Sportscar Championship. The MXR-01 is not powered by a rotary motor, but rather a wonderful 3.5-litre Judd V10. An engine that sounds equally, if not more, angry as the quad-rotors that came before it. The design is basically a Jaguar XJR-14, as the car was run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, who had run the XJR-14 for Jaguar before they dropped out of sportscar racing in 1991. Following some slight modifications to the XJR-14, the MXR-01 was born, looking even more epic than the Jag. Sadly it came up against the incredible Peugeot 905 and its best result was a second in the Silverstone 500. It did briefly lead at Le Mans in 1992, but finished fourth behind the dominant Peugeots. It also finished second in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, the ‘90s version of the Asian Le Mans Series, but that was the end of it. After 1993, when the WSC and AJSPC were both cancelled, Mazda left Sportscar racing.