The 2016 Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup Car: Development

After computer simulations and more than 6,000 on-track miles, the 2016 Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car has come a long way during the development phase and is now fully tested and developed.

Mazda provided CAD data, drawings and models to Long Road Racing (LRR) to help develop the MX-5 Cup car's primary systems: radiators, headers and exhaust systems, roll cages and dampers. When the three pre-production MX-5 road cars arrived at the LRR shop in Statesville, N.C. in March 2015, the development plan was put into effect.

Mazda Motorsports and LRR captured the MX-5's measurements via a kinematics and compliance (K&C) machine and multi-post shaker rig. The K&C machine tested (pre-cage) chassis rigidity, suspension geometry, and other characteristics (static data), while the multi-post shaker rig tested many of the same characteristics, but under load (dynamic base line data).