Mazda (Lola) Prototype

For Sale

7 Jul

£ POA

Ex-factory “Mazda Prototype” as raced in the IMSA United SportsCar Championship from 2014-2016, including three appearances at both Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours. Based on Lola’s B12/80 design and perfect for Masters Endurance Legends in which it is already a proven overall race winner.

Overview

Campaigned as a factory entry by the Mazda-backed SpeedSource team in the premier category of the IMSA United SportsCar Championship from 2014-2016
Built for Mazda by Canadian powerhouse, Multimatic Motorsports, under licence from Lola after the latter ceased operations in 2012
Propelled for the first two of its three IMSA seasons by Mazda’s SkyActiv-D diesel engine before a successful switch to AER’s more potent and well-proven, petrol-powered, 2-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged unit for its final year (and still powered by such today)
Veteran of three Daytona 24 Hours and three Sebring 12 Hours
Eligible for the premier ‘Group 2 - Prototype 1’ category of the Masters Endurance Legends championship
Ideal candidate for the HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hours and Classic Daytona 24 Hours
Outright race winner in the Masters Endurance Legends race at the 2022 Silverstone Classic
Beneficiary of a bare-chassis rebuild ahead of the 2022 Silverstone Classic
Fitted with a AER P91B engine and new fuel cell
Fully crack-tested and race-ready
Accompanied by two additional sets of wheels and further spare parts

Learn more about the fabulous Mazda Prototype and ride onboard with Sam as he puts the car through its paces at Donington Park.

Background

1991 Le Mans victors, Mazda, took advantage of the 2014 merger between the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the GrandAm Championship with the creation of their Mazda Prototype programme. The newly formed, IMSA sanctioned, United SportsCar Championship (USCC) allowed the Japanese company to combine two separate sports car programmes and create the unique, diesel-engined, Mazda Prototype in order to promote their SkyActiv-D technology.

With diesel propulsion and branding in 2014-2015...

... with AER's petrol engine for 2016

Before the 2014 convergence, the Japanese manufacturer was active in the GX class of the Grand-Am Championship with a Mazda 6 Skyactiv-D inspired GT car. A purpose-built race car, it featured a tube-frame chassis with full carbon-fibre bodywork that followed the design of the Mazda road car. Intended to drive sales of the newly introduced diesel engine, it was powered by a modified, four-cylinder diesel engine. Built by Riley, the cars were successfully run for Mazda by SpeedSource.

At the same time, Mazda also backed the ALMS efforts of Dyson Racing. In 2013, the American team fielded a single Lola B12/60 in the top level P1 category. This was powered by an AER-built, Mazda-badged, four cylinder turbo engine. This had been a winning combination during the 2012 season but in the final year of the ALMS no victories were scored.

Over the winter, these two efforts were combined to create what was simply known as the “Mazda Prototype”, designed to race in the premier Prototype class of the USSC at a time when the series dispensed with the traditional separation between LMP1 and LMP2 classes.

While Lola had ceased trading in 2012, its final sportscar design, the B12/80, remained a formidable challenger. Well aware of the car’s continued potential, Canadian specialists Multimatic purchased the necessary rights, tooling and spares and continued production of the chassis and spare parts. For Mazda, two brand new chassis were built based on the original Lola B12 design, as previously used with great success in the ALMS. The all carbon-fibre construction with in-board suspension, carbon brakes and advanced aerodynamics still represented the state-of-the-art.

From the Grand-Am effort, the 2.2-litre diesel engine was initially carried over to the new prototype programme. This reportedly used over 60% of the stock components, including the aluminium block and head. Bosch direct fuel-injection and a Garrett turbo ensured that the engine produced a reported 450 bhp with the mandatory restrictor fitted. That was a 70 bhp improvement over the specification used the previous season. The two cars were finished in a striking metallic red with large Skyactiv-D stickers promoting Mazda’s diesel technology.

The Florida-based SpeedSource team was tasked with running the two factory cars for Mazda. The innovative machines faced stiff competition from a large mix of LMPs and Daytona Prototypes. Thanks to the series’ recent convergence, the Mazda Prototype was among the first sports cars to compete at both Sebring and Daytona in a generation.

After two challenging seasons with diesel propulsion, Mazda re-engined the cars with the more competitive AER-built, Mazda-badged, petrol engine for the 2016 season which immediately signalled an upturn in competitiveness and a return to the sharper end of the field for the Japanese marque. While the podium remained elusive, the cars appeared frequently among the top six and displayed particularly strong pace in qualifying against the toughest of North American sportcar racing competition in its final season. Today, in that same specification, the design has proven a force to be reckoned with in historic racing.

This Car

MM07 is one of two new chassis produced by Multimatic specifically for the Mazda Prototype program. The car's chassis plate reveals its dual identity as it has both the Lola B12/80 type number and the Multimatic number. It was raced as the #70 car throughout the 2014 season by Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay. They were joined for the long distance events by James Hinchcliffe or Ben Devlin. The best result of that first year came at Laguna Seca with a seventh overall. A repeat result at Laguna Seca was also the highlight of the following 2015 season.

Once re-engined with the “Mazda MZ-2.0T” badged AER P90 turbocharged ‘four' for the start of 2016, chassis MM07 immediately made its mark at the official pre-season Daytona Test where it was third fastest.

Though unable to forge a path to the podium for the remainder of the season, MM07 did finish eighth overall at the Sebring 12 Hours, fifth at Watkins Glen and Mosport, before securing two superb fourth place finishes at both Long Beach and Austin.

At the end of its third and most successful season of racing, regulation changes rendered the Mazda Prototype obsolete and the car was retired.

Benefiting from a factory-level budget, MM07 was essentially maintained regardless of cost throughout its period racing career, before being sold as a rolling chassis. Following a spell in American hands, it was acquired by our vendor in 2022 and imported to the United Kingdom for a bare-chassis restoration by Simpson Motorsport.

At the same time it was refitted with AER’s 2-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged engine - specifically the 590 bhp P91B, a revised version of the original P90 engine utilising the same engine block, crankshaft, connecting rods, cylinder head, valve sizes, and inlet manifold as the latter, with different pistons to lower the compression slightly in the interests of reliability and longevity.

Following the rebuild, the Mazda Prototype was briefly tested on an airfield runway before it was entered in the 2022 Silverstone Classic for Michael Lyons to drive. Up against the perhaps the toughest Masters Endurance Legends field of the season, Lyons proved the car's potential straight out of the box, finishing third in the first race and winning the second - an exceptional performance against ex-factory Peugeots, an Oak-Pescarolo, the ‘Gulf’ Lola Aston Martin LMP1 to name but a few. Both driver and team were convinced that with some additional testing a lot more performance could be extracted from the car.

With MM07’s sister chassis re-purposed today with a different specification, this car is the only survivor of the original factory programme restored to period specification. Offered in race-ready condition, and hugely competitive in the right hands, MM07 offers a portal to the sharp end of a Masters Endurance Legends grid, in addition to the superb races hosted by HSR in the United States (including Sebring and Daytona Classics).

Lola Mazda Prototype LMP for sale_celebration livery — *Chassis MM07 ran a celebration livery at Watkins Glen in 2016 in commemoration of Mazda’s 1991 Le Mans victory.*

Technical Specification

Chassis: Lola Mazda B12/80 design built by Multimatic
Engine: AER P91B two-litre, inline four cylinder, single turbocharger petrol engine, producing 590 BHP in current specification. Warranted engine mileage remaining.
Gearbox: Xtrac 1059 Sequential (semi-automatic paddle-shift) operated by latest Geartronics hardware and controlled by the Life F90.
Dampers: Multimatic DSSV 4-way.
Brakes: AP Racing 6 Pot calipers with 356mm carbon discs and pads.
Electronics: Engine ECU Life F90. PDM, data logging and steering wheel dash display Motec.
Wheels: 18”. 2x sets of Motegi and 1x set of OZ wheels supplied with the car.

Sam Says

“For a works car, theoretically destined only for use by professional drivers in period, this is a shockingly friendly car to drive. The exceptional (and very expensive!) DSSV dampers seem to repave the road ahead, while the downforce feels as helpful in low speed turns as it does in high speed. While not quite as powerful as full-blooded LMP1 cars, it benefits from being about 100 kilograms lighter, certainly contributing to the ease with which it obeys instruction from the cockpit. If you’re new to this type of racing, this could well be the car for you: affable and almost effortless from the first lap, it has the pace to grow with you as you develop your technique until, as recently proven, it carries you right to the overall top step of the Masters podium.”

Eligibility

Masters Endurance Legends (Europe & USA)
HSR including Classic Sebring 12 Hour & Classic Daytona 24 Hour

Spare Parts

The car is accompanied by a spares package that includes 2x full sets of spare wheels. Additional spares are readily available from third-party suppliers. Full details available on request.