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"sometimes it just takes longer than anticipated"?
I was a big Mazda fan back when SpeedSource was actually winning in Mazdas. I was intrigued when Mazda won the special Diesel class. I was excited when Mazda moved to prototypes. It's been what, six years?
The diesel was a nice idea, but Nice ideas rarely finish, apparently. The AER unit was overworked and uncompetitive in the Dyson Lola and everywhere else, it seems. With the latest set of upgrades .... the engines burns as well as all the previous iterations.
Sometimes determination, persistence, hard work, and professionalism (which has not always been on display in some of the pit work) are not enough. Sometimes a flawed design cannot be overcome.
Ford had the GT, the GT Mark II, and the GT Mark IV ... and also the J-car and the F3L. "Professionalism" included walking away from the stuff that didn't work.
Maybe Mazda will succeed---or maybe the lack of torque will always kill the car in traffic or in heads-up duels with its competitors. Maybe the engine will finally be reliable, despite being pushed to ever-higher limits----or maybe we will see another season of near misses when the car burns down while leading or hunting for the lead int he final laps ... or much sooner.
When the mere mention of your car elicits images of barbecues and camp fires, when people ask what happened and the answer "It's Mazda" and no one asks further ....
They have the potential (particularly at long races) and I would love to see them convert. What I have seen is late-race failure, or mid-race failure, and usually flame shooting out of the engine compartment.
There is no guarantee that they will realize their "potential" just through persistence.
They got two cars on the podium at Petit last year. I don't think they could have won, and the AXR #5's fuel shortage helped ... but they finished near the front (5 and 7 seconds off.) Can the "new, improved" engine survive a long race? it's possible.
However ... five years to hit the podium?
Methinks Mazda might want to give the program a little more cash and maybe work on a better engine design? it seems likely that with the current torque deficit (not to mention the utter unreliability) that the car will win based more on luck than anything else.
If the car had a decent engine I think they'd have won long ago.
I have no idea whether Mazda's withdrawal form most racing means the corporation wants to focus on a few, winning efforts, or plans to scale back further. But at some point "still knocking on the door" becomes "still banging one's head against the wall."
If Mazda is really "obsessed" with IMSA success ... they might need to deepen that obsession. Admiring persistence is fine ... but if their goal is to be admired for success, they might want to look at a blank sheet of paper.
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