No matter how many times I attend the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, I never quite get over the visual impact the event creates on the streets of Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t into customs or hot rods, the sight that these cars collectively create is simply breathtaking. Throw in an ever-expanding [...]
As car enthusiasts, I’d say there are generally two different ways in which we acquire new vehicles. First off, there’s the traditional route where we have a specific model we seek out – often looking at numerous examples and doing much contemplation before we decide to hand over our hard-earned money for the right car. [...]
Happy New Year everyone! I’d like to kick things off with a guest blog from Speedhunters readers Jonathan Bowen, who is lead engineer of Georgia Tech’s “Wreck Racing” team. If you enjoy low budget race cars and grassroots engineering, I think you will enjoy this. Take it away, Jonathan! -Mike Hidden away in Georgia Tech’s [...]
Danny George just finished his rookie year in Formula Drift, and he did it in a Mazda Miata. We all know it’s the little roadster that could, and many have tried to drift it but few have succeeded. Danny has some unfinished business with the Formula Drift series and he wants to come back next year. I met up with him at SEMA to see what he is all about.
We have seen quite a few interesting Roasters over the last day, but as our themed 48-hours dedicated to Japan’s little sports car continues I wanted to chime in and bring you a little selection from the land of the rising sun. The key to the Roadster’s success over the last two decades is due [...]
As we spend time celebrating the Mazda MX-5 this week, we saw fit to include a brief look back at the history and development of the car from its beginnings in the 1980s through today and to the future. It’s an interesting tale, and through it you get a real sense of Mazda’s commitment to building enjoyable cars for the world. So, let’s take a look back.
I thought I’d spice this celebration of all things Mazda Roadster/Miata/MX-5 with a look at a car that remains one of the most memorable NBs I have ever driven. The year was 2004, and Mazda set up a cool drive event of a bunch of new limited edition Roadsters which, on top of the limited [...]
The response to our call out for reader-owned Mazda Roadsters has been nothing short of overwhelming. Even as I write this, submissions are still flooding into the #FeatureThis inbox. It was incredibly difficult trying to narrow down the submissions to something manageable, and we’ve tried to come up with a selection of cars that represents the global appeal and culture that surrounds Mazda’s popular sports car. There’s a lot to see, so let’s begin!
(Above) Roadster fan Masahko Shibata (left) and some of his friends gather at Kariya Parking Area in Aichi, Japan.
The Mazda Miata is a car that’s many things to many people. For some it’s a daily driver – an open aired way to enjoy the daily commute. Others keep their Miatas locked in the garage awaiting the weekend and a scenic backroad journey. Some people don’t even drive their cars on the street, using [...]
You know what really gets to me when people refer to the MX5/Miata/Eunos? That they’re just a bit of fun and they have a bad image, I say it through gritted teeth, but the word ‘hairdresser’ seems to come up a lot. These tired cliches may have been the general consensus 15yrs ago, but times [...]
I’d wager that last Saturday the largest gathering of car enthusiasts in North America, possible the world, converged at Irwindale Speedway. For those twenty four hours the course was not only the home of the final round of Formula D, but also had a paddock full of vendors, a parking lot bursting with street sweepers [...]
As the long and seemingly unrelenting summer in Japan comes to an end, there is one event that for a few years now has marked the seasonal transition for me. I am of course talking of the Roadster & Rotary Meeting, held every September at the beautiful Sendai Hi-land Circuit, a celebration of all the [...]
I have never really done this, but it has been on my mind for quite a while. You see Speedhunting doesn’t necessarily need to be done at the track or at an event; in a country like Japan “Speed” is all around, there waiting to be “hunted” in all its various forms. So that’s precisely [...]
Besides the outright number of impressive cars coming into the featurethis@speedhunters.com inbox , I’ve also been very impressed in the diversity of machines you guys have been sending in from across the world. From drift cars to restored classics to daily drivers, the spread is very much in line with the content that appears on Speedhunters daily. Representing the not so common category of homebuilt Time Attack car is this NB Mazda MX-5 build submitted by David Wilken from Melbourne, Australia.
When I visited the GTCC race at Tsukuba Circuit earlier this month, I encountered everything that makes Japan's grassroots motorsport scene great. There was the close wheel to wheel racing, the great cars, and most importantly the fun-loving and passionate weekend racers that define this series. Among the folks I met at GTCC was "Freedom-san", [...]
