It appears as though Mazda didn’t solve all of their reliability problems with their new RT24-P endurance racer. Between today’s oil fire at the Rolex 24 and the fuel injector-caused fire at Petit Le Mans, this is the second race in a row where a Mazda prototype has had burst into flame during a race.
The causes are different, but the end result is the same: an otherwise decent race for the lovable, scrappy Mazda team gets ruined by an impromptu car-b-que.
We know they’d like to be as fast as a rocketship, but having afterburners is not the answer. This roasty effect was an oil fire, which dumped oil all over Mazda’s pit stall in the process. Poor Mazda.
The No. 55 car had clawed its way back up to fifth place during the race, and with only just under four hours left, it’s looking highly iffy that it will come back in time. We’ll see!
Speaking of “not again,” the latest of a string of crashes by the “Why Are You Hitting Things We Called This ‘Don’t Hit Me Pink’ To Avoid This” No. 8 Starworks Prototype Challenge car brought out a full-course yellow as the Mazda started cleaning up the miniature Exxon Valdez catastrophe that i their pit stall right now.
Between the mountain of oil dry being unleashed on pit lane and the perpendicular prototype, it was too much at once to keep letting cars travel at full speed.
Yes, the pink PC car. Again.