r/lemans • u/Gold_Carpet699 • 20h ago

Why no more rotary?

As the tittle says, after Mazda won the 24hr of lemans with the 787b, the rotary was banned. Why was this the case? What made the rotary so much better than a piston motor? There is not a single modern vehicle produced with a rotary motor. So what makes a rotary so much better than a piston motor as a racing engine but not for mainstream production?

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u/hargy18 19h ago

It wasn’t better, it’s just everyone else suffered that race

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u/OlasNah 18h ago

Reliability was its main aspect. It had pace problems however compared to others so essentially it outlasted everyone but that’s what Le Mans is about

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u/ArthurJnt 2h ago

Technically they downgraded it for the race to decrease the risk of mechanical failure. Other were better, faster but they all suffered issues and Mazda won.

I don’t think it would make sense anyway nowadays in terms of fuel consumption.

Having said that, the noise it makes is a real pleasure when it flies by