Driving a piece of Mazda history during the Monterey Historics last weekend was not only a privilege, it was a true thrill! The MX-6 GTU chassis embodies everything Mazda stands for with its lightweight, nimble, balanced form.
The analog gauges, bias-ply tires, and H-pattern dog ring gearbox takes you back and gives you extreme appreciation for where technology has taken the sport. In comparison, today we have streamline digital dashes, radial tires, and sequential or even paddle shift gearboxes, but this piece of history allows you to truly enjoy the pure driving experience. With the ability for us to make setup changes to dial in the car—such as brake bias, ride heights, and swaybar settings—the chassis’s reactivity was impressive.
Mazda’s racing heritage at its finest!
Since my car was grouped with the faster IMSA GTO (RX7 4 rotor) and TransAm cars of the 80s and 90s, the GTU Mazda reminded me of how current Continental Tire Series GS and ST cars interact in speed comparison and cornering potential (although at a much greater overall pace)! It was fun to be running in the top few rows of cars even though our “little” twin rotor MX-6 had several hundred horsepower less 🙂 You can check out a clip from my onboard camera over at Racer.com.
Overall, the car was bulletproof for the entire event and gave me a further appreciation of the impact Mazda had in IMSA GT racing during the 80s and 90s. I was fortunate enough to be a part of that continued history with the next generation RX-8 during its heyday from 2008-12.
The next time I’m getting back into a modern racecar, I’ll smile and reminisce about my Historics opportunity.
Strapping into the Mazda MX-6 for the first time.
An incredible display of Mazda racecars, Prototype and GT alike!