Slot.it Mazda 787B n.55, 1st Le Mans 1991 Options

[Doug]

The Mazda 787 and its derivative 787B were Group C sports prototype racing cars built by Mazda for use in the World Sportscar Championship, All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1990 to 1991. Designed to combine a mixture of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) Group C regulations with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GTP regulations, the 787s were the last Wankel rotary-powered racing cars to compete in the World and Japanese championships, using Mazda's R26B engine.

Although the 787 and 787B lacked the single lap pace of World Championship competitors such as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Porsche, as well Japanese Championship competitors Nissan and Toyota, the Mazdas had reliability which allowed them to contend for their respective championships. The reliability of the cars eventually paid off in 1991 when a 787B driven by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler, and Bertrand Gachot went on to victory in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. This remains as of 2008[update] the only victory by a Japanese marque as well as the only victory by a car not using a reciprocating engine design.

A total of two 787s were constructed in 1990, while three newer specification 787Bs were built in 1991. Source: Wikipedia.







Slot.it model available from the 19th November.

[bleep]

OOOOh Merry Christmas to you too Maurizio! How nice does that look

[yellabelly]

Thats not nice Ian - thats damn BOOTIFOOL!!!

[PSRRFH]

wow

[manic35]

I've been waiting for this slot fo too long!

Now let me see, do I have the funds for a second one or not? (one to drive and one just for looking at)

[Roerslot]

This will be slot.it's best seller for this year.
And it is realy great looking
Bravo slot.it

[Scott]

Anyone care to comment on the size of the rear wheels/tyres?

Too me they are too small, no doubt to aid on track performance, but it does spoil these Slot.it Group C cars for me.

Given the work that goes in to make these accurate in other ways, and that you get spare tyres, it seems such a pity. I'd welcome a set of scale wheels/tyres too.

I suspect that if this were a Hornby release there would be endless posts about how dreadful it is to see such and error (i.e. windscreen wipers on Escorts).

[nino barlini]

Anyone care to comment on the size of the rear wheels/tyres?

Too me they are too small, no doubt to aid on track performance, but it does spoil these Slot.it Group C cars for me.

Given the work that goes in to make these accurate in other ways, and that you get spare tyres, it seems such a pity. I'd welcome a set of scale wheels/tyres too.

I suspect that if this were a Hornby release there would be endless posts about how dreadful it is to see such and error (i.e. windscreen wipers on Escorts).

Yes Scott, I have one pre-ordered, however I must agree 100% with your thoughts.
It is a lovely car, anyway.

In my opinion, the LMM version of this Mazda has more accurate scale wheels for this car, but, example to other LMM cars, I'm sure that performance is not "that good".

Cheers!

Ricardo Bifulco

[Music-Man]

That car is DAMN BEAUTIFUL


Elliott

[Dopamine]

Anyone care to comment on the size of the rear wheels/tyres?

Yes, they're far too small, badly positioned too far forward within the wheel arch, and on the model pictured, the right-hand wheel is too far inboard of the bodywork.

You are right to say that other manufacturers would receive more complaints than Slot.it will if they had produced this model, but this forum's membership is well known for its pro-Slot.it bias. Slot.it make nice cars, some of the best in fact, but are over-rated in my opinion.

Still, lovely model, and I have one on pre-order, so I'm as guilty as the rest of complaining but still buying a flawed product.

[Rleog]

Superb model, Maurizio, and doubtless a quick runner too. Thank you. I'll be picking up at least two.

[RikoRocket]

Ruined by the back wheels. I'll stick with my SRS2 version
Front tyres are too thick as well....

[Vitesse]

Well I'll probably end up with two, one to keep nice and tidy and one to thrash, but might get a white kit and do the Charge livery and thrash that instead.

Been waiting a long time for this, almost as long as the Alfa 33 - and that was a big disapointment as far as I was concerned, but I have faith enough to believe it will live up to expectations.

Rear wheels? - what has this got in way of the pod, it it is standard then fit an offset and larger wheels - that will help. I'll have to fit a new pod anyway as I will want a Boxer 2 motor in this. Too far forward - hmmm - it's not the first like that but I am sure you could shave a bit out of the rear of the hole in the chassis, enlarge the pod screw mounting holes into longer slots and move the pod back a bit - that should help a bit.

Front wheels too thick I think I saw mentioned too - take those tyres off and fit Slot.it 17x10 low grips.

BTW that photo is not the car, it is the copy supplied to the Le Mans Museum, I should think the real one is at Mazda HQ in Japan. It got coated in varnish after the race to preserve the finish line finish, flies, carbon dust et all.

Rear wheels aside, WHAT ABOUT THE COLOUR?
That orange is dayglo and looks to be well represented in the photos. But the green is also dayglo and very bright. Those photos look slightly dark and drab to say the least. I do hope it is just the photos, as this livery is the most iconic of all the Group C cars, but I guess I won't know till I have one in my hands.

What ever it is like, one thing is for sure, it isn't going to sound right..... cue happy memories of Le Mans.

Lucky win for the Mazda in 91, All the Group C cars had to run with extra weight and only the Sauber C11 managed to carry the extra, the Porsches were suffering with collapsing suspension, TWR Jaguar decided to bore out the 7 litre to 7.4 to power the extra ballast only to find in the race that the extra .4 was sapping a lot more fuel that prevented them running on the pace. Mazda - the other teams agreed to let them be exempt from the extra weight - bet Tom Walkinshaw was kicking himself after the race for what might have been a 1-2-3 for Jaguar. I know I felt like kicking him, but at the same time I was mighty pleased that Mazda had won, and with the right car (the Charge one), will never forget the feeling as the Mazda came past the pits to take the lead from the stricken C11 and the huge roar of approval from the crowd.

[Dopamine]

Rear wheels? - what has this got in way of the pod, it it is standard then fit an offset and larger wheels - that will help. I'll have to fit a new pod anyway as I will want a Boxer 2 motor in this. Too far forward - hmmm - it's not the first like that but I am sure you could shave a bit out of the rear of the hole in the chassis, enlarge the pod screw mounting holes into longer slots and move the pod back a bit - that should help a bit.

Front wheels too thick I think I saw mentioned too - take those tyres off and fit Slot.it 17x10 low grips.

How much simpler it would have been for Slot.it to do all these things prior to manufacture. Positioning a wheel centrally in its arch isn't nit-picking or a fanatical requirement for perfect scale accuracy, it's simple aesthetically correct model making. The cost would almost certainly be less than the slow drip-drip damage that seems to be happening to their reputation. Two years ago it was far harder to find people prepared to criticise Slot.it models.

None the less, Slot.it remain near the top of the tree as far as mainstream manufacturers go, mainly because of their great customer service and quality aftermarket parts, but too many silly errors can't be good for long-term reputation.

[Henk]

I understand those who want the car to look like a die cast and have the same details. But the function of a die cast car is to be a shelf queen and the function of a slotcar is to be a racing car.

To be able to race the car one has to make adjustments that are not to the likes of the 'modellisti' but it has to be done. It is very difficult to produce a car that is a good runner and a good looker and I think SlotIt did a great job with this car.

I guess many of these will end up as shelf queens anyway and not many will be raced, still one should realize that it is a slotcar in the first place.