the Mazda MX-5 unveiling
. Hence an early morning dash across Tokyo with Peter to park and ride from a nearby shopping mall one stop on the subway to a large auditorium somewhere in the suburbs.
'Who said hairdresser's car?' MX-5 gets angry
As part of its Japan Thank You 25th anniversary celebrations Mazda invited a load of owners and fans along to the ceremony too, somewhat incongruously timed at 10am on a weekday probably in order to suit the simultaneous event going on the US. And not the one in Spain, which by skewed body clock must have been at something like 3am.
While the Americans seemingly got Duran Duran playing Notorious (not sure of the link there) we got a couple of faltering hosts reading out a sombre message from the Mazda president who'd opted to stay in Hiroshima out of respect for those killed in the recent mud slides - seemingly local etiquette would have made a ceremonial presentation in such circumstances unseemly. We then had some videos of MX-5 fans talking about their cars on film while perched on deckchairs, a protracted sound'n'vision build-up and then finally the car emerging from the centre of the stage. And then a stuidiously polite and organised queuing system to permit everyone their turn at paying respects to the new car. Now my Japanese is non-existent but I was told the repeated message was that the MX-5 - or rather the Roadster as it's known here - is nothing less than the soul of Mazda.
1.5 or 2.0? Mazda ain't saying for now
So, as a fanboy, what did I think? I like the car front-on and I think they've done the right thing by keeping the foundations consistent but rejecting an evolutionary design in favour of something more radical. It's decisively not cute like the original and the Mk3 that reinterpreted it so neatly and there are lots of fascinating slashes and angles in the lines. It's a complex shape, unlike the previous cars, and much more aggressive. There's possibly a bit too much metal in the front wings but that's likely a crash regs thing but apart from that I think it works. Cars always look better out in the open so I'll reserve judgement until then. And the fact it's fundamentally an MX-5 and keeps the basic formula of normally aspirated, light weight, manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive alive for another generation has to be celebrated. And is it a 1.5 or a 2.0? We couldn't quite call it and the man from Mazda wasn't saying, hinting that this wouldn't be announced until the press drives. Even with 100-odd kg lopped off I can't see 115hp or even 130 from the 1.5 being enough so I'm calling 2.0. Even if the unit on the exposed chassis did look rather small.
More virtual practice; real thing beckons
From there it was back to Polyphony for some more virtual testing at a digitally realised Tsukuba. This time in the rain, given what's looming on the forecast. Frankly the track looked better on GT6 than it did in the fancy simulator, even if the set-up wasn't quite as fancy. Lapping in an MX-5 this time I managed to get into the 1min 11s in the dry and 12s and 13s in the 'wet', which Peter seemed happy with. I've now got an annotated circuit diagram too, pointing out gearchanges and points where we can save fuel; essential given we've got 90 litres to see us through the four-hour race and at times will have to keep an eye on revs and pace if we're going to make it to the finish.
I've even got some team shoes now, car sponsor Negroni equipping us with some very fancy footwear. All the gear then. Any idea though? We'll have to see when the virtual becomes real.
Next stop dinner, apparently in the restaurant that inspired the location for the big fight scene in Kill Bill. Am hoping the Crazy 88s aren't in town.
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