We all know the story of how Mazda has been attacking the most punishing enduros in the world for the past 40 years (if you don’t, it’s all told in Issue 1 of JNC magazine :D), and in 1991 became the first and only Japanese marque ever to conquer Le Mans. But did you know that in 1981, an RX-7 was campaigned at the same race? Here it is in its full widebody aero glory, ten years before the 787B took Circuit de la Sarthe’s checkered flag.
UPDATE: Correction, this JUN has nothing to do with the famous JUN Auto Works of Super Lemon fame. See the comments below for details. The wealth of information from our readers is amazing, and why we love you guys!
JUN rules 🙂
Nice wheels by the way.
now that looks really cool
Looks like it might have raced Gr5 in Japan at the time….oddly there are lots of pics and vids of the Nissans racing in Grp5 during that era but not the RX7s….
That raced in the IMSA GTO class in Le Mans. I have Lemans on DVD from 1979-1991. Another notable manufacturer you will see labeled on some Le Mans cars from as early as 1983 is RAYS. Anyone who has $72AU would be interested in this http://www.biante.com.au/product_19636.htm
Nice this car is very nice. I love JUN
No, no, no. You’re getting your JUNs mixed up.
This car had nothing to do with JUN Auto Mechanic!
The JUN in question is the much older [i]apparel[/i] company JUN CO. Ltd, which sponsored many race teams in the 70s and 80s. The company fathered a very large and diverse group of fashion-related businesses – one of which I used to work for……… ahem.
Kev,
There’s PLENTY of data and photos of these and many other race cars of this period in old issues of Japanese race magazines like AUTO SPORT, AUTO TECHNIC and RACING ON.
Ah, thanks for the correction! I will edit the post.