Miata goes... Ice Racing!

Mazda MX-5 on Ice

4 hour race for journalists, TV fans and readers

20 modified racing MX-5s set to start

Extensive programme with training sessions, qualifying and the race

Åre, Sweden, 21 February 2011. Mazda opens the 2011 motorsport season on Swedish ice. After the successful MX-5 Open Race last year, Mazda is inviting racing enthusiasts to Sweden for the MX-5 Ice Race from 21 to 24 February 2011. A total of 20 modified MX-5s, tuned for driving on ice and wearing spike tyres, will participate in the four-hour race on the ca. 5 km grid.

The MX-5s will be piloted by teams from 26 participating nations, among them motor journalists with racing experience, and TV fans and readers who won tickets to the event in special contests. The four-day event in Åre, Sweden will include two extensive training sessions, a qualifying session to determine pole and starting positions, along with the race itself which is divided into two sessions. When the snow settles, the team that drives the most laps during the four hour race will win.

Mazda MX-5 Ice Race provides exciting Finish

Lake Kallsjön, Sweden, 24 February 2011. Mazda's MX-5 roadster proved again yesterday its pure sports cars genes, this time on ice in Sweden at the Mazda Ice Race 2011. Clear blue skies and polar temperatures provided the right conditions for an exhilarating festival of drift and control as drivers from 26 nations competed in specially modified roadsters for a podium finish.

Day 1 – the Aussie's make it look easy
After Tuesday's practice sessions and qualifying, a clear favourite emerged with the Australian team, which dominated Day 1 and took pole position. They also won the hearts of everyone by wearing swimming trucks over their racing overalls – in honour of summer down under – and driving with a tiny kangaroo mascot fastened to the top of their car's safety cage. They made it look easy on Day 1 with their only real challenge coming from the Russian team, which took second on the grid.

Day 2 – Russian Heroics and Belgium Consistency
Race day featured beautiful blue skies, glistening snow and a morning temperature
of -31º C. This ensured ideal conditions on the ice of Lake Kallsjön, which is located in the Östersund region of west-central Sweden. The race itself was conducted in two sessions, each two hours long, with the car completing the most laps the winner. Like last year's MX-5 Open Race in Italy, it was drifting control and not pure speed that proved the decisive factor in the race. The Australians continued to dominate as they had on Day 1 and led for nearly the entire race. But then a small mistake, a spin-out, and Russia overtook them at the end, holding on for the chequered flag; with Australia second.

Russia's win followed some amazing heroics from the team. They began the race in second place but spun-out early, fell back to 14th, only to battle their way back to second by the end of the first session. They then patiently held this spot, hoping for a miracle, and were able to capitalise on Australia's misfortune at the end of the final session for a truly exciting win. The Belgium team displayed the consistently good driving you would expect from last year's MX-5 Open Race winners, coming from far back in the pack to take third. The unforgettable day out on the ice culminated with a Champagne spray on the podium from the three winning teams.

The Mazda Ice Race 2011 was crowned later that evening at a gala dinner and show for pilots, teams and invited guests who had won a Mazda competition in their home countries for a place at the event. Jeff Guyton, Mazda Motor Europe's President and CEO, gave a short speech and presented trophies to the tired but happy winners. This was followed by dinner and a celebration of MX-5 Ice Race memories lasting late into the night.

Stolen from Autoblog

Words, words, words, awesome video of miatas ice racing.

Check out my friend Dan's build blog!

My badass friend Dan has a blog up on his drift car.  The guy is an amazing driver, and a really great guy, and can be seen in this video as the flag guy, and in this video as the guy drifting, as well as the main drifter from Albuquerque in keepdriftingfun.com 's upcoming vid!

So give him some love http://danbrockettdrift.blogspot.com/

Overdue update of the Registry

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  I have the Miata, Hardtop, some extra parts, and a bunch of stuff left to sell.... but the FMMF is in the red for $1,221.92.

I'm deadset on picking up the Enkei 92's asap, and those with tires are going to be another $900ish.  Fortunately I have some more found money coming in to offset the bulk of that, but still looking at needing to make up another $1500 or so still, since I really want to keep to the idea of the FMM.

Miata Pr0n Vol XI

Taken from a collection of pictures from the parking lot at the Tokyo Auto Salon.  And again, shamelessly stolen from Speedhunters.  Of course there are many other pictures in the collection, Skylines, RX7's, and even a lowrider.  Something to suit many different fetishes.

Miata Special Edition for the big 900k

Mazda is releasing a new special edition to celebrate hitting the 900,000 Miata mark.  Saying special edition Miata doesn't mean a helluva lot, since there are 30 some special editions in the 22year old history of the model, but cool none the less.

More words over at Autoblog

Might be true, might be false, might be funny

Found randumbly on the intardwebs.  We've heard it all before, Miatas are hairdresser cars, etc etc.  I won't feed into this by bitching about the boxster either.  I'll just set this here.

Miata Pr0n Vol ???

Very hot roadster & RX4 relaxing by the side of the Highway in Japan.  Via Mike Garrett of SpeedHunters

On The other side of reality

So the RC video looked real, but was small cars.  On the flipside are real cars (and people, and stadiums, and trees....) made to look small via use of a tilt-shift lens.  It's the Syndney Telstra 500.  Via Hooniverse

Badass RC Drifting

Via Autoblog via Carscoop

Cool Craigslist find

In perusing the local CL auto classifieds (a guilty pleasure) I came across this, thought it was cool enough to share.
http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/2214263831.html

Electric Car for Sale (Albuquerque) $4000

from albuquerque cars & trucks - by owner classifieds - craigslist

About the same electric range as a Chevy Volt for 1/4 the cost and you will own a rather rare piece of automotive history!


This is a Jet Electrica, which is a factory converted Ford Escort chassis.
These cars were built on brand new chassis as Electric Vehicles by Jet Industries during the early 1980s.


Everything on this car is in very good operating condition and was recently refurbished. Car is being sold AS-IS (It does NOT come with batteries).
Buyer is responsible for purchasing and installing batteries. Everything else with the exception of the heater is operable and ready to function. A Cybertronics charger and a Manzanita charger are available, but are sold separately. Contact me for details.


Year: 1981
Miles: 26,100