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. [...]
You might have noticed I haven’t been heading down to many night meets at Daikoku PA lately. With the Police constantly closing off the rest stop way before gatherings have a chance to get too big, it has began to take a lot of the fun away from it all. The reason they have started [...]
After a somewhat disappointing event last year, spoiled by snow, rain and a track that didn’t want to dry, the Tsukuba Super Battle couldn’t have been blessed with better conditions today at Tsukuba. Freezing air and cloudless blue skies are always the perfect recipe for optimal time attack conditions, and the 78 cars in attendance [...]
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.
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 [...]
Lamborghini have announced a new version of their Aventador supercar: 1,300 coupés have already been shipped since last Summer, and now the the LP700-4 Roadster is being added to the roster. With the roof structure removed, the engine cover and rear pillars have had to be redesigned: a central ‘spinal column’ with two pairs of [...]
I’m going to start off this spotlight-o-rama from the Roadster & Rotary meeting with a car I think most will agree Mazda should have built. Why the 13B never officially made an appearance in the NA or NB chassis is beyond most people; I can understand that they wanted to keep RX-7 line up well [...]
Sendai Hi-land is the track that Nissan chose to develop the R35 GT-R on. This isn’t at all surprising as it’s one of the most challenging and technical circuits in Japan, throwing a variety of corners, elevation changes and chassis-testing sections into the mix. It’s also an awesome track to shoot at, which is precisely [...]
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 [...]
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.
While I was at Tsukuba Circuit for the GTCC race, I came across these two little white sports cars parked in the paddock. On the left is a first generation Eunos Roadster of course, while the car on the right is a classic Lotus Elan. It was quite interesting to see these two cars parked [...]
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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", [...]
