Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Mazda's 1991 Le Mans victory is a fairy tale of fortitude and fortuitousness. Against the superpowers of sportscars, they stood no chance... allegedly

- By Braam Peens

For most, it may be a distant memory, but 1991 spawned several revolutions that ultimately changed the world. The first-ever website was registered, the first cellular phone call was made and American troops invaded the Middle East.

Elsewhere, on the world's most famous racetrack, a different type of war was about to erupt and it would be decided by a little skilful calculation, lots of determination and a random bit of luck.

That year the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) entered a state of flux as the then-new premier C1 class comprising works teams by Sauber-Mercedes, Jaguar and Peugeot - began to run with 3,5litre (effectively F1) engines. While also racing against the older Group C C2 cars, entry of the latter was only allowed to compensate for a lack of C1 entrants.

All three marques in C1 had something to prove at Le Mans that year. Sauber and Jaguar sought repeats of their respective 1989 and 1990 triumphs and Peugeot was keen to shine at its home race in its first full season of sportscars. Unsurprisingly, little attention was paid to Mazda as C2 also-rans. After 21 years of competing at the French enduro with rotary engines, it had enjoyed just four minor class wins but never troubled the front runners, let alone stole the headlines. Why would 1991 be any different?

For Mazda, it would be and for several reasons. Firstly, as rotaries would be banned from 1992, existentially Mazda's motivation to succeed was perhaps further fuelled by a sense of now-or-never.