The custom car celebration, the “Tokyo Auto Salon 2016 with NAPAC,” was held from January 15th (Fri) to 17th (Sun) at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, where a record 320,000 car enthusiasts and motorsports fans packed the venue for every single day of the show.

At the Mazda booth, located in the West Hall, the exhibitions were centered on the “Mazda RX-VISION,” that was the talk of the Tokyo Motor Show, along with the “Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo,” which wowed fans at the Mazda Fan Festa Okayama last year. Also on display were motorsports vehicles such as the ND Roadster and Demio MB based cars, along with customized bodywork cars such as the CX-3 and Atenza. In addition, a Goodwood Festival of Speed themed Gran Turismo corner and Mazda merchandise shop were also established. Overall the booth successfully portrayed the active enjoyment of Mazda’s participation in motorsports and daily car life.

At the Mazda press conference held on the 15th, Oversight of Marketing Strategy; President and CEO of Mazda Motor America, Inc. (Mazda North American Operations), Masahiro Moro announced the full participation of Mazda’s all new engine equipped LMP2 car in the US’s Sportscar Championship Series. Along with that he spoke about the Global MX-5 Cup that will start in North America, domestic participatory motorsports, a driving academy plan, and so on. On this tangent, it seems that there have already been 90 units of the Global MX-5 Cup Car sold since its launch last fall and work is tirelessly being carried out on the race spec models. On top of this, Mazda Women in Motorsport project leader, Keiko Ihara spoke of the results from last year’s program and the drive to recruit another 10 individuals to partake in 2016’s curriculum. Not only that, Ihara announced that she intends to compete in round 2 of the Sportscar Championship, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Continuing on, an awards ceremony was held to celebrate the exceptional teams and drivers that secured the titles of Mazda’s 2015 Japan domestic participatory motorsports categories and all those present bathed in the media’s camera flashes.

At the center stage crowds were enthralled by talk shows regarding the Goodwood Festival of Speed, that was held last June, the Women in Motorsport program, the 50th anniversary of Yojiyo Terada’s involvement in motorsport, and so on.

On the evening of the 15th, one of the organizers of the Auto Salon, NAPAC, held a new year’s party at a hotel near the venue where Mazda was awarded an NAPAC award for aftermarket contributions to promotion of the event. Not only that, judges chosen from the Auto Salon secretariat chose the Mazda RX-VISION as the best vehicle within the concept car category and a number of awards were be bestowed on the vehicle.

As can be seen from the above facts, Mazda Motorsports are becoming even more increasingly involved in a wide variety of categories and are likely to continue expanding into the future. The opportunities for taking part in participatory motorsports, driving academies, and so on are constantly expanding, so we highly encourage Mazda owners who are yet to experience these programs to frequently check the calendar for new updates.

Photo by MZRacing