For Sale: 1984 Lola with Rotary Engine that Claimed Victory in Its Class at Le Mans on Street Tires

      Mecum Auctions

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      Whether it’s the homespun phrase “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” or its mundane MBA counterpart “road relevance,” the link between road cars and race cars stands as one of the main pillars of the motorsports realm. This connection typically manifests through actual vehicles, be they showroom models modified for racing or homologation specials designed solely to make a racing team's maneuvers legal. However, 40 years ago, BFGoodrich achieved similar promotion through tires.

      In 1984, to advertise its T/A radial tires, the company established a two-car team to compete in endurance racing within both the IMSA GT Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where chassis HU-2 secured a class victory on the street tires that the team was created to endorse. HU-2 will be among the highlighted lots at Mecum’s 2026 Monterey Car Week auction, alongside its counterpart, chassis HU-3. It is anticipated to sell for approximately $300,000—about $100,000 more than its sibling.

      Tires are arguably the most crucial component of any vehicle, and considerable engineering is invested in their performance. Unfortunately, even the most dedicated car enthusiasts often overlook this. In the early 1980s, BFG tires paired with a Mazda RX-7 chassis formed a winning partnership in the IMSA GTU class, but these victories weren’t receiving the attention they warranted. Thus, the tire company decided to raise the stakes.

      “The issue was, no one really cared about any RX-7 performing well,” Chuck Patrick, a BFG tire engineer at the time, recounted in a 2005 Vintage Motorsport article regarding the project. “So the marketing team asked, ‘How do we prove that we are genuinely producing a quality product?’”

      The answer was to advance to the FIA C2 class, which was the second-tier category for prototypes in endurance racing. BFG enlisted racing driver Jim Busby to manage the team, who chose the then-new Lola T616 chassis, which would be coupled with the 1.3-liter 13B rotary engine from the RX-7. While the essential street tires maintained the same overall design as the consumer versions, they needed to be reconfigured to fit the 13×11-inch front and 13×14-inch rear wheels mandated by regulations. A 3,000-mile testing program ensured their readiness.

      Both vehicles participated in the major IMSA races of 1984, including Sebring and Daytona (they are claimed to be the first cars to use street tires on that track’s high banking), with chassis HU-3 winning its class at that year’s Monza 1,000-kilometer race. However, the highlight was Le Mans, where John Morton, John O’Steen, and Yoshimi Katayama secured the C2-class victory and 10th overall. The second car, piloted by Busby, Rick Knoop, and Boy Hayje, finished third in class and 12th overall.

      As stated by drivers mentioned in that Vintage Motorsport article, the tires were not as significant a factor as the engine, which had both lower power and poorer fuel efficiency compared to most competitors (apart from the factory Mazda 727Cs that year). The T616 needed to be driven somewhat conservatively to conserve fuel, and the chassis was designed for a heavier, more powerful engine, which might have concealed any differences in performance between its street tires and the specialized racing rubber used by others.

      Team BFG’s class win marked the second consecutive victory for a Mazda rotary-powered vehicle, contributing to the momentum that led to the Japanese manufacturer's overall Le Mans victory with the 787B in 1991. While it’s uncertain whether the win resulted in tire sales, it undoubtedly makes for an intriguing narrative that isn’t likely to be repeated in the current, more regulated environment.

      It is also remarkable that both cars have survived to share this story. They aren’t precisely as well-known as contemporary Group C cars like the Porsche 956. Fortunately, Busby and Knoop bought and restored the pair in the early 2000s. They have since made regular appearances in vintage racing, symbolizing an unexpected marketing strategy that yielded an improbable victory.