immortalised on screen in films such as Le Mans ’66. The sight of elite racing cars tearing around the French circuit, their headlights glowing brightly in the pitch black of night, is one of ...

A soul, perhaps. The Mazda 787B is one of those cars. The car that won the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours as an unfancied underdog, the first Japanese car to do so and, as yet, the only rotary-engined winner.

Oliver Gavin, a Corvette Racing employee for two decades, is sitting before me in the team’s pit box just as their second car dramatically exits the Le Mans 24 ... of road cars in the years ...