Amazon Car Lust's Blog

Continuing the incredibly obscure IMSA GTP theme ...

Yesterday we reviewed the development of the Nissan GTP-ZX prototype from dud into stud, in which Nissan tweaked its racer into a surprisingly dominant force after several lean seasons. Well, today's story is not quite as inspiring.

Mazda won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 with its one-off Mazda 787B. After that stunning triumph, the automaker came into IMSA GTP with very high hopes--hopes that were subsequently dashed. The Mazda RX-792P came into IMSA GTP late, it wasn't very quick, it blew up easily, and Mazda pulled the plug after the car's first season. By any standard, the car was a miserable failure.

By any standard but one, that is. To my eyes, the Mazda RX-792P was one of the most beautiful race cars ever conceived. The word that comes to mind is "smooth." The RX-792P eschewed the purposeful and aggressive details of its competition for smooth, sweeping contours and a classic shape. Combine that shape with a subtle silver paint scheme devoid of cluttered sponsor logos, and you're left with a classic.

I was entranced with the RX-792P before it ever turned a wheel, but the spell deepened once I saw it race. Mazda, as it so often is, was alone in bringing to the table a rotary engine--and that rotary sounded glorious, fierce, shrieking and crackling.

Of course, none of this really makes up for the fact that as a race car the RX-792P was a huge, steaming failure. But if races were won on evocative looks, the RX-792P would have been a multiple champion.

The first photo here is of the ultimately unsuccessful RX-792P; the second is of the more conventional (and more successful) Le Mans-winning 787B.

--Chris H.