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A margin of victory of just 0.006 seconds is always an indicator of an incredible race finish. Mazda’s MX5 Cup racing class is a spec racer class with relatively low power, so you expect the finishes to be close, but damn that was an absolute blast to watch. It pays to keep in mind that this was the first race of the MX5 Cup season, and all of these racers were itching to get to the front.
MX5 Cup is almost as exciting as the IndyCar action on track at COTA this weekend. The folks running the show absolutely do not care about track limits at COTA, so these MX5s are being constantly flung over the curbs, and the race continues all the way out to the wall, the way it should be. Some drivers don’t take it quite so far, preferring to preserve their suspension, which makes some of these corners look like a sea of Mazdas.
It doesn’t matter where you look on the track, there is more passing and drafting and beating and banging than an entire season of most road racing series. For these small cars COTA is a really big track with big long straights, and that just adds to the high-rev fury here. If any driver makes even a small mistake, they’re swallowed up by a swarm of buzzing roadsters.
The top five battle is as intense as any battle I’ve ever seen on the race course. For the final handful of laps, there’s really no telling who will ultimately take the victory.
This whole race is under an hour, so throw it on your big screen and get some mega racing action this morning to really wake you up. It’s incredible.
Tired of only being able to race on video games or think you have what it takes to transfer your skills to a real race track? A raffle hosted by Lemons of Love, a racer-owned non-profit that supports chemo patients, may give you the chance to do just that come March 16, when it announces the winner of a brand-spanking-new 2019 Mazda MX-5 Cup race car.
This sweet little racer is based on the newest version of the Mazda MX-5, the ND2, which means it rocks the enhanced 2.0-liter SKYACTIV-G engine that pumps out 181 horsepower. Combine that with a serious diet, the removal of electronic nannies, the addition of a roll-cage, and basically stiffer or stronger everything else, and the result is a big-boy race car capable of tackling the country's most famed racing circuits in the Global MX-5 Cup. But what about race entry fees? Don't worry, those are covered for the whole season, too.
If you want to get a piece of this awesomeness pie, all you have to do is visit Lemons of Love and drop $100 on a raffle ticket. Now, I know that a hondo isn't exactly pocket change, but let me remind you that an MX-5 Cup race car costs $68,000 brand new and that doesn't even include all the other goodies Lemons of Love and its sponsors are throwing in for the raffle winner. The best part? The more tickets you buy the more chances you have of Mazda Motorsports boss John Doonan drawing your name the morning of the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 16.
The winner will take home the MX-5 Cup race car plus the following:
Lemons of Love is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that creates, fills, and delivers chemo care packages. We know about the little, day-to-day challenges that chemotherapy patients are faced with, and the racer-owned charity hopes to provide some insight about the effects of chemotherapy and make those short-term side effects, like dry skin and cold toes, a little more manageable through the gift of a care package.
The 2018 Lemons of Love raffle was won by Daniel Miller, a member of the United States Air Force who was deployed in the Middle East when Doonan drew his winning ticket the morning of the 2018 12 Hours of Sebring. Once he found out, Miller told Lemons of Love founder Jill Swanson Peltier that he donated to the charity because his mother is also a cancer survivor.
The MX-5 Cup is at Sebring International Raceway in Florida for the third and fourth rounds of the 2021 MX-5 Cup championship, which is very exciting. Even more exciting was how the third round finished.
Three drivers — Selin Rollan, Michael Carter, and Gresham Wagner, who was the polesitter — battled for the lead throughout the race Thursday, pulling away from the pack at one point before being bunched up again after a yellow flag.
On the final lap, Carter led for much of it, with Rollan and Wagner close behind. As they approach the final turn, Rollan moved ahead, before Wagner took the lead with a slick move inside. Then came a three-wide photo finish, with Rollan just barely edging out Carter and Wagner for the win. Carter finished 0.0001 second behind Rollan, and Wagner taking third.
It was all very exciting. Skip ahead to the 5:14 or so: Rollan said after the race that he had no idea who had won as he drove the cooldown lap. From the MX-5 Cup website:
“To start things off, I had no radio,” Rollan said. “We [Michael Carter and Gresham Wagner] made a gap and we were all on board to make a gap and then we got the double yellow. I thought it was all going to be over and that it was going to be a crazy race to the finish. But luckily, we were able to bring that gap back after the restart.
“Once the white flag came out we were racing hard and I was able to get by Gresham (Wagner). I got by (Michael) Carter on the back straightaway. We all went deep into (Turn) 17 and I got a run on Gresham. Then, passing the start finish line I had no idea that Michael was even there or that we even won the race. So I went through that whole cool down lap not knowing where we finished.
03-25-2019, 10:16 AM
I'd love a chance in a SM. The Cup cars look even more fun.
