The weekend of July 24th will host three different Spec MX-5 Challenge events throughout the United States. GingerMan Raceway, COTA and Road Atlanta will be ready for racers region wide. Although all races will feature un-rivalled competition, Road Atlanta will bring unique opportunities from the team at Mazda Motorsports.
Interested in learning more? See what the Mazda Motorsports is saying…
To support our Road Atlanta racers and teams, we will have Tom Long, pro driver, coach, and MX-5 Cup Shootout judge, along with Steve Strickland, Josh Smith and David Cook on hand. We will have a parts trailer with many parts for Spec Miata, Spec MX-5 and a few others, as well as a hospitality set-up with snacks and drinks.”
Complimentary coaching starts at 1 pm on Friday and runs until the first Spec MX-5 race. Tom Long will be based at Mazda Motorsports’ trackside support trailer providing complimentary coaching to Spec MX-5 racers and other Mazda racers. To sign-up, the sheet will be posted on the Mazda Motorsports trailer at the start of the event, prior to his arrival.
- To further build the value of Spec MX-5 with the goal of growing it to a national class in both NASA and SCCA, as Spec Miata is, we are further investing resources into SMX. One focus area where we are building additional value is via driver development. Tom will join this SCCA event (and other coaches are joining many other SMX events throughout the country) due to it being a Spec MX-5 event. Spec MX-5 racers are given the opportunity to sign up prior to the event by emailing Tom at [email protected].
- Racers may, assuming spots are still open, sign up on site/at the event.
- Slots are 30 minutes with 25 minutes of coaching.
- On Friday, test day, slots start at 1 pm and end at 5 pm (i.e. 1:00 – 1:30, 1:30 – 2:00, etc. until 4:30-5:00).
- Saturday slots run 8 am – 11:30 am. SMX is group 1, with a start time of 12:20 (planned), as seen here.
- Video review is recommended; however, data can work and is great, if two drivers provide data.
- Racers should be ready with the information they want reviewed upon arrival of the coaching session to maximize time.
- It is recommended racers don’t wait for sessions until after multiple sessions (coaching is valuable before even the first session without (current) video). Bring previous video or a track map to discuss the course and to fill out.
Tom will also be on hand evaluating talent for the MX-5 Cup Shootout.
Read the entire article here.