Filming at Long Road Racing.
I spent quite a bit of time at Long Road Racing last week, and over 30 chassis are already out the door in their Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car trim. Last week I saw chassis number 43 being disassembled to start its transformation to a Global Cup car. Rumor has it we’re going to see quite a large field for the season opener at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca from April 29-May 1. That’s the same weekend as the IMSA event, so there will be a great crowd on hand to see the debut of these new cars!
After this final push of getting cars prepped for the race series, production for club racers and track day enthusiasts will continue through the spring. MX-5 Cup race teams have already been testing the Global Cup cars, and it’s exciting to hear all of their feedback.
Max Papis even joined us to talk about his custom MPI steering wheels that come standard in each Global MX-5.
The real purpose of my visit to Long Road Racing was to help Mazda with a video shoot in which we explain the details and workings of the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car. Mazda Motorsports will be producing several videos from the footage that we shot, including tutorials and information for both current and prospective owners.
A “full-size” exploded diagram of all the custom parts that go into every Global MX-5.
Throughout the day, we did multiple takes for each segment, describing components in various ways depending on which video we were filming for at the time. It was quite a tedious and tricky process for me, because I’m not used to being in front of a camera like this!
Giving an interview on TV is something I’m more familiar with, where I typically talk about my thoughts and impressions, but this filming process involved memorizing prescribed technical information, and then having to convey it in a way that will be clear to viewers. In a live TV interview, you only get one shot, but at the shop we could do as many takes as it took to get it right – in some ways, that made it more difficult! I now look at on-camera hosts with a whole new respect: even though they’re talking from a script, they make it look so natural!
A lot of time and emphasis was spent going over all of the features on the car, inside and out, from safety to performance to reliability. Be sure to keep an eye on MazdaMotorsports.com for these videos, which will also include some great how-to pieces and tech tips about the new car.