Global Mazda MX-5 Cup Car: How it Drives

We often get asked, “How does the 2016 Global MX-5 Cup car drive?” So, we turned to our factory driver Andrew Carbonell to explain.

The 2016 Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car is an incredibly fun and rewarding car to drive that inspires driver confidence around every corner. Mazda has done a great job of bringing back the original sports car feel that millions fell in love with from the first generation chassis known as the "NA." The NA had a very nimble feel, which made it incredibly enjoyable to drive around the track: it responds to your inputs on demand and does whatever you tell it to, within reason, of course. Now, with the new MX-5 Cup car—the "ND"—I get that same feeling.

Mazda's SKYACTIV technology has provided us with a lightweight chassis design, a new motor with more usable power due to a larger mid-range and a set of four piston Brembo brakes with incredible stopping power. I can feel these improvements in each segment of the corner. Every brake zone, turn-in point, apex and track out makes me realize just how outstanding this new racecar really is. I've driven a lot of laps around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Mazda MX-5s, and the ND's relationship to the NA chassis can really be felt there.

Turn six is a quick kink on the way to the Corkscrew, and you can feel just how nimble the ND chassis is through there; you can come in with lots of speed, flick the car into the corner with a large slip angle, and the improved suspension geometry creates a ton of grip right as the car compresses through the dip at the apex, saving you from going off of the track. In fact, the car created so much grip through here that I never felt like I carried enough speed to find my limit!