Is the Las Vegas GP already a classic?
After all the pre-race noise, the 2023 Las Vegas GP turned out to be a brilliant race on an exciting track – a 2024 repeat could seal its reputation
Watch a video of the Mazda 787B completing a lap of Le Mans, and view our gallery of Kenichi Yamamoto’s most notable rotary creations below
Former Mazda chairman Kenichi Yamamoto, also known as the ‘father of the rotary engine’, passed away on December 20, 2017 at the age of 95. Yamamoto was asked to supervise a team of Mazda engineers working on the Wankel engine, invented by Felix Wankel.
The team he led produced the Mazda Cosmo, which made its debut at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show, but the engine’s poor fuel economy meant sales began to drop before fuel-saving innovations resurrected the brand with the 1978 RX-7, before Yamamoto became chairman and president of Mazda. He retired in 1993 and became a senior advisor to the company after the MX-5 was released.
Mazda’s 787B, powered by a 700hp, 4-rotor Wankel engine, won the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours against the might of the Jaguars and Mercedes, making Mazda the only Japanese manufacturer to win the competition. Watch the 787B scream through a lap of Le Mans below.
After all the pre-race noise, the 2023 Las Vegas GP turned out to be a brilliant race on an exciting track – a 2024 repeat could seal its reputation
The stewards long overdue reaction to Max Verstappen's wild driving at the 2024 Mexican GP is too little, too late
2024 US GP: Disappointing starts, cryptic messages and too much run-off – here's what was going up and down in the Lone Star State
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem again gets worked up about an F1 non-issue, but now drivers are angrier than ever – it all felt quite familiar at the 2024 Singapore GP