Mazda has announced that the upcoming fourth-generation MX-5 will form the basis of a new global race series starting in North America, Europe and Asia in 2016.
The track-prepped MX-5 racer was previewed at this week’s SEMA show in the US, with the show car wearing a discreet aero body kit, single outlet exhaust and larger wheels than the road going example revealed in September.
The interior has also been stripped out to make room for a race-spec roll cage, steering wheel and instruments, along with a racing seat and harness for the driver.
MX-5 racer
What is shown may not be the final form that takes to the grid in 2016. Further development will occur over the coming months, with the final specifications confirmed when the car goes on sale in 2015.
Mazda has confirmed that the Global MX-5 Cup racers will use the 2.0 liter Skyactiv-G petrol engine destined for the road car in some markets.
Each regional series of the Global MX-5 Cup will run identical production-based machinery, and the season will culminate in with a Global Shootout grand finale at the end of the year held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the US.
The prize for winning the Shootout will be a one-day test in Mazda’s Skyactiv-D LMP2 prototype racer, which competed this year in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in the US.
Single-make global series like this are not new, with Porsche’s Carrera Cup running in Asia for a decade and in Germany since 1986. However this is Mazda’s first tilt at a factory-backed single-make series.
Previously, their involvement has been limited to the US-based MX-5 Cup and Spec Miata series. There was also an MX-5 Challenge held between 2011 and 2013, which pitted motoring journalists from Australia and Europe against each other in conditions not typical of the topless sports car. It was indeed a snow challenge, and I would have certainly put my hand up for that one, as I am a great fan of the MX-5, having had one as a daily drive car for three years.
They also make very good track cars with Brian Farrabee, a friend of mine in Australia, running a fleet of older MX-5’s as rent-a-racers.
