We are Drivers

We are Drivers

Mazda Takes Centre Stage at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015

Mazda Motor UK participated in this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the world’s largest motor sports event featuring historic cars, which took place from 26 to 28 June at Goodwood Estate owned by Lord March. The 2015 event saw Mazda taking centre stage; a giant sculpture called the central feature, installed in front of Goodwood House, is dedicated to a specific theme each year. This year the central feature celebrated Mazda’s motorsports heritage and its Japanese identity.

Inspired by Mazda’s KODO –Soul of Motion design philosophy, the central feature was an artistic creation that brought Mazda’s Japanese origin and motorsports heritage to life. To showcase Mazda’s Japanese roots, traditional architectural style commonly used to support eaves of a Shinto shrine was applied to the sculpture’s pillar structure. To celebrate and highlight Mazda’s racing heritage, its challenging-spirit and the company’s stylish and spirited car line-up, the two cars were placed on top of the 40 metres high sculpture featuring spiraling beams made up of 120 tons of steel. The two cars were the Mazda 787B replica, the only racing car made by a Japanese car company that took the overall victory at Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo full-scale model which was created for a PlayStation®3 driving simulation game “Gran Turismo 6” in a hope of Mazda’s return to Le Mans in not so distant future. Mazda had the honor to premiere the full-scale model on top of the giant installation, which was unprecedented in Goodwood’s history. The Mazda central feature conveyed agility, power as well as dynamism and energy coming from the two cars.

The event was blessed with the beautiful British summer weather and attracted a huge crowd of spectators. The historic classic models, Le Mans racing models, WRC cars, Formula 1 machines and the latest models lined up the pit which was the highlight of the event. Mazda MX-5 (ND/ 4th gen model) took part in the Hillclimb, the Festival’s principal attraction. Driving along the latest models introduced by European, North American and Japanese car companies, Mazda MX-5 turned heads thanks to its design filled with vitality and agile driving performance.

The five historic Mazda racing models powered by rotary engine –the Mazda 787B, the Mazda 787, the Mazda 767B, the Mazda RX-792P and the Mazda RX-7 GTO returned to the central feature after the Hillclimb drive every day during the event. The five cars fired up the engine at the same time when returning to the pit, and the unique rotary engine sound, beautifully played in unison, excited and impressed many spectators.

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