TAS 2013 was a dawn of a new era for Mazda/MZRacing. SKYACTIV-D racing engine is getting started in motorsports.
The “Tokyo Auto Salon 2013”, annual festival of car customize and tuning was held from 11th (Fri.) to 13rd (Sun.) of Jan. at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba city. We saw a record number of exhibitors and vehicles this year. Together with fine weather, the 3-day event was really packed by fans.
Like last year, Mazda and MZRacing put a stand together. MZRacing played important roles to disseminate Mazda's global motorsports information, to display photos and videos of races, marketing of motorsports merchandise, etc. Motorsports is essential for Mazda Zoom-Zoom.
“TCR012” NC3 race car, made by the invincible team of Roadster Party Race II, “TCR JAPAN”. “Knight Sports RX-8”, participated in the Macau GP 2012. These vehicles displayed here were both actual race cars, and are strong candidates for winners in each series this season.
Another car is a concept car, “ROADSTER MZRacing 2013”. The “Bikini Top” balancing light weight and fashionable look made it stand out. The experimental concept car, with Brembo brakes and special RECARO bucket seats, attracted lots of attention from visitors. YAMAMOTO chief engineer of the Roadster “likes” it!
Star of the show was Mazda LMP2 SKYACTIV-D Racing race car. The racing engine was unveiled to the public here for the first time in Japan. It's really exciting to see Mazda challenges Le Mans 24h again with the new technologies and the car. The Mazda LMP2 car was one of the most photographed cars in the whole show.
Fans enjoyed taking photos of the Mazda LMP2 SKYACTIV-D Racing on stage using Mazda's original smart phone application, “CARPTURE”. Fans can made various effects on photos they took by using this app.,e.g. moving the background, rotating the tyres, etc.
Here is the photo exhibition corner showing exciting racing scenes around the world in 2012. LMP1 car, “Dyson Mazda MZR-R” in ALMS, Mazda RX-8 GT in Grand Am GT races, etc.
Long queue at the MZRacing Store. The limited edition of the “New Atenza” 1/43 miniature car was most popular. Also, Rotary engine –related and the brand new SKYACTIV racing goods sold very well.
With the big sign of SKYACTIV, Mazda booth really stood out. Many people also paid a visit to customised models of the new Atenza and CX-5 as well as the Mazda LMP2 SKYACTIV-D. Great!
Fresh smiles of Mazda ladies! They distributed the “SKYACTIV BOOK”, filled with test drive articles of the Atenza and the CX-5, global motorsports stories and SKYACTIV-D racing special features.
Talk show on stage was about SKYACTIV-D engine. Fans were enthusiastically watching easy to understand presentation. Towards the end of the talk show, Mr Yojiro TERADA appeared and talked about the “Mazda 6 GX Race Car” he drives in the Daytona 24h race in two weeks' time.
After the stage in the Mazda stand, Mr TERADA participated in the talk show and autograph session at the MZRacing corner. He presented the “Visit Florida Team” project and talked about the Daytona 24h race. We look forward a good result in Daytona.
Mr NAKAMURA, owner of the Knight Sports, and Mr TANIGAWA, the driver, also joined the show and talked about the Macau GP 2012 where they made big scenes though the result was a bit shame. Mr NAKAMURA declared his commitment: “As the last season of our challenge with RX-8, we will win!”
In the YOKOHAMA RUBBER booth, there was the “Hurricane RX-7” time attach car of RE AMEMIYA which participated in the Mazda Fan Festa 2012 in Okayama International Circuit in Dec. A sticker, “Love Rotary” was on the nose of the car.
