{"id":21283,"date":"2019-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/mazda-rx-7-254i-rediscovered\/"},"modified":"2020-10-05T15:55:47","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T15:55:47","slug":"mazda-rx-7-254i-rediscovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/mazda-rx-7-254i-rediscovered\/","title":{"rendered":"Mazda RX-7 254i rediscovered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Of all the Japanese automakers, Mazda is one of the smaller. Nevertheless, the team from Hiroshima always dares to do things, that bigger manufacturers directly exclude. So Mazda together with the German car brand NSU belonged to the pioneers in the production of vehicles with rotary engines (often refered to as Wankel engines, named after their inventor Felix Wankel). Strictly speaking, the Japanese are the only manufacturer in the world today who continues to hold on to this technology and still develop new engines in the background. Next to that, Mazda achieved the biggest racing success of a vehicle with a rotary engine. They won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 787B.

This great success was preceded by various steps, that are now forgotten by many racing and brand fans. Already with the model RX-2 and RX-3 they competed in touring car races. Then, after the world premiere of the rotary sports car RX-7, Mazda not only built racecars, but even a rally version within the following years. But in this article we will introduce the racecars 253i and 254i, which were both built on the basis of the second generation RX-7 according to the IMSA GTX regulations. With their widebody looks, they fitted also into the Group 5 era of European racing. It all started with the 24 Hours of Daytona, but the Japanese team quickly discovered the 24 Hours of Le Mans as more prestigious. When they would achieve successes there, they could use it for advertising around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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