Last weekend I joined hundreds of other Mazda MX5 owners, and as is traditional in Britain; braved the less than charming spring time weather on a journey down to the South Coast.
It was the first proper run out that I have given my recently owned Mk1 MX-5 R-Ltd after several months of refurbishments. The event, run by the MX-5 owners club, was a real treat despite the rather harsh weather.
As an aside, how within 7 days we can go from the hottest London Marathon on record to temperatures that seemed so cold that hats, gloves and scarves would not have been frowned upon is beyond me.
I set off fairly early with a friend, taking the various A and B roads recommended by the above MX-5 owners club. The route down really was a joy, lots of twisty roads of various sizes taking us through many classic English country side scenes. My passenger and companion for the day hails from the mean streets of Rio de Janeiro, and I’m fairly confident that the beautiful sites we enjoyed more than outweighed the threat of imminent rain (or snow!?) throughout the day. He was particularly taken by the beauty of Petworth; just north of Chichester. Regrettably I don’t have any pictures of the journey as I was having too much fun driving.
If you ever fancy travelling to the South Coast from London and don’t like the idea of taking the motorways, you could do a lot worse than follow the directions given by the MX-5 Owners Club to Chichester: Routes to Goodwood. I can only imagine that the other routes proposed on the same web-page are equally as enjoyable.
I won’t go into too much detail regarding my car as I will likely cover it with another post when the project is fully completed, but If you haven’t picked up already, I really enjoyed her ride – easily the most fun car I have driven to date, which of course I am very happy about!
I’ll now let the pictures taken by myself and my companion during the day do the talking.
Above: My beloved R-Ltd parked up on circuit ready for the parade lap. We were one of the last cars to arrive despite the early start, after stopping off for the mandatory several coffees and a full English breakfast on route.
Above: My friend going through the hysterical stage of hypothermia as we cruise on foot past the hundreds of MX-5s brought to the event.
Below: A few of my favourite MK1s on show on the day. My next modification to my car will likely be the front end / registration plate position. So seeing so many examples was a great help.
Above: A not too shabby S-Ltd makes the starting grid.
Below. An RS-Ltd attracts plenty of attention as you would expect.
Above: Nothing screams engine upgrade quite like a V6 Jaguar lump!
Below: Even rare collector’s cars need new tires you know…
Below: A few of my favourite non Mk1 examples on show.
Above: Prize awarded for the bravest traveler of the day; with extremely heavy rain forecast for the drive home.
Below: One last photo of myself posing on the start finish straight ahead of the parade lap. Followed by a few taken during the procession.
Thanks for organising MX5OC! I hope you all got home safely.
Rubick's Journeys 