Editing Mazda (section)

=== International competition ===

Mazda's competition debut was on October 20, 1968, when two [[Mazda Cosmo#Racing|Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S]] coupes entered the 84-hour [[Marathon de la Route]] ultra-endurance race at the [[Nürburgring]], one finishing in fourth place and the other breaking an axle after 81 hours.<ref name="a">"The Rotary Club", Don Sherman, ''[[Automobile Magazine]]'', February 2008, pp 76–79</ref> The next year, Mazda raced [[Mazda R100#Racing|Mazda Familia R100 M10A]] coupes. After winning the [[Singapore Grand Prix]] in April 1969 and coming in fifth and sixth in the [[Spa 24 Hours]] (beaten only by [[Porsche 911]]s), on October 19, 1969, Mazda again entered the 84 hour Nürburgring race with four Familias. Only one of these finished, taking fifth place.

The first racing victory by a Wankel-engined car in the United States was in 1973, when [[Pat Bedard]] won an [[International Motor Sports Association#IMSA RS|IMSA RS]] race at [[Lime Rock Park]] in a [[Mazda RX-2]].<ref name="a"/>

In 1976, Ray Walle, owner of Z&W Mazda, drove a Cosmo ([[Mazda RX-5]]) from the dealership in Princeton, New Jersey, to Daytona, won the Touring Class Under 2.5 Liters at the [[24 Hours of Daytona]], and drove the car back to New Jersey. The Cosmo placed 18th overall in a field of 72. The only modifications were racing brake pads, exhaust, and safety equipment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mazdarx5.com/daytonarx5.html |title=daytona rx5 |publisher=Mazdarx5.com |access-date=September 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714055128/http://www.mazdarx5.com/daytonarx5.html |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After substantial successes by the [[Mazda RX-2]] and [[Mazda RX-3]], the [[Mazda RX-7]] has won more [[International Motor Sports Association|IMSA]] races in its class than any other model of automobile, with its hundredth victory on September 2, 1990. Following that, the RX-7 won its class in the IMSA [[24 Hours of Daytona]] race ten years in a row, starting in 1982. The RX-7 won the IMSA Grand Touring Under Two Liter (GTU) championship each year from 1980 through 1987, inclusive.

[[File:Mazda 787B Otaru Synthesis Museum.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Mazda 787B]], winner of the 1991 [[24 Hours of Le Mans]] race]]

In 1991, a four-rotor [[Mazda 787B]] (2622&nbsp;cc actual, rated by [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile|FIA]] formula at 4708 cc) won the [[24 Hours of Le Mans]] auto race outright. The 787B's triumph remains unparalleled, as it remains the only non-piston-engined car ever to win at Le Mans, and Mazda is the first Japanese brand to have won overall at Le Mans. This led to a ban on rotary engines in the Le Mans race starting in 1992, which has since been rescinded. After the 1991 race, the winning engine was publicly dismantled for internal examination, which demonstrated that despite 24 hours of extremely hard use it had accumulated very little wear.

The Le Mans win in 1991 followed a decade of class wins from other Mazda prototypes, including the [[Mazda 757|757]] and [[Mazda 767|767]]. The Sigma MC74 powered by a Mazda 12A engine was the first engine and team from outside Western Europe or the United States to finish the entire 24 hours of the Le Mans race, in 1974. Mazda is also the most reliable finisher at Le Mans (with the exception of [[Honda]], which has entered only three cars in only one year), with 67% of entries finishing. Mazda returned to prototype racing in 2005 with the introduction of the [[Courage Compétition|Courage]] C65 LMP2 car at the [[American Le Mans Series]] race at [[Road Atlanta]]. This prototype racer uses the Renesis Wankel from the RX-8.

Mazdas have also enjoyed substantial success in [[land speed record|World Land Speed]] competition, [[SCCA]] competition, [[drag racing]], [[rally racing|pro rally]] competition (the [[Mazda Familia|Familia]] appeared in the [[World Rally Championship|WRC]] several times during the late '80s and early '90s), the [[One Lap of America]] race (winning SUV & truck in a MazdaSpeed5), and other venues. Wankel engines have been banned for some time from international [[Formula One]] racing,{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} as well as from United States [[midget car|midget racing]], after [[Gene Angelillo]] won the [[North East Midget Racing Association]] championship in 1985 with a car powered by a 13B engine, and again in 1986 in a car powered by a 12A engine.