Mazda zoom zoom live event near chicago
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Yesterday I went to the Mazda zoom zoom live event in arlington park, IL. Got to drive the cx-7, madza 3, 5, 6, mazdaspeed 6, mx-5 miata, and rx-8 on autocross style cone courses in a couple of huge parking lots. I highly recommend the event, it was tons of fun.
The first event was in the cx7 auto trans, driving at a slower pace and getting the tire 6-18 inches from double cones on the outside edges of the "track". Kinda hard in a vehicle you've never driven before.
Next was a match time event in either a mazda 3, 5, or 6. All automatic. You tried to match up to 33 seconds EXACTLY. Friggin hard to do. A few people got very close, the best time was 32.999 by two people. My best time was 33.079. I had a friend in the car with a stopwatch, counting to help me out. Next he went on the course, and went too fast, had about 4 seconds left near the finish, so he slowed down big time. Ended up being very close, but they didn't mark his card because "slowing that much through the finish messes up the sensor". Ah-hem, I think bullsh*t.
Next was a balls to the wall "race" in either a regular 6 or the mazdaspeed 6. the 6 was auto, the 'speed 6 was manual only. Of course I chose the manual. the target time was 34.5 seconds, my best was an ugly 37.8 sec. But this was the first time I did anything autocross at all. They had pro drivers that did the lap every once in a while, it was amazing to see them slip through the course easy as pie, and faaaast.
Last you had the best part, a short course for the miata and rx-8. no times were taken, it was just for fun. I drove the miata twice and the rx-8 once. Fun fun fun. The miata was like a dream, busting the rear end loose a little was fun. But you had to be careful, screaming launches, spinning out, or hitting mad cones got you kicked out of the whole z-z live event. We saw several people kicked out just in the time we were in line.
All in all a great time with some car loving friends. Only gripe is the courses were very short and not all that fast, but it was 100% free. The shortness kept lines down and we got to drive a lot over the course of a few hours. If it comes around your area, check it out! You even get a T-shirt...can't beat that. :lol:
The first event was in the cx7 auto trans, driving at a slower pace and getting the tire 6-18 inches from double cones on the outside edges of the "track". Kinda hard in a vehicle you've never driven before.
Next was a match time event in either a mazda 3, 5, or 6. All automatic. You tried to match up to 33 seconds EXACTLY. Friggin hard to do. A few people got very close, the best time was 32.999 by two people. My best time was 33.079. I had a friend in the car with a stopwatch, counting to help me out. Next he went on the course, and went too fast, had about 4 seconds left near the finish, so he slowed down big time. Ended up being very close, but they didn't mark his card because "slowing that much through the finish messes up the sensor". Ah-hem, I think bullsh*t.
Next was a balls to the wall "race" in either a regular 6 or the mazdaspeed 6. the 6 was auto, the 'speed 6 was manual only. Of course I chose the manual. the target time was 34.5 seconds, my best was an ugly 37.8 sec. But this was the first time I did anything autocross at all. They had pro drivers that did the lap every once in a while, it was amazing to see them slip through the course easy as pie, and faaaast.
Last you had the best part, a short course for the miata and rx-8. no times were taken, it was just for fun. I drove the miata twice and the rx-8 once. Fun fun fun. The miata was like a dream, busting the rear end loose a little was fun. But you had to be careful, screaming launches, spinning out, or hitting mad cones got you kicked out of the whole z-z live event. We saw several people kicked out just in the time we were in line.
All in all a great time with some car loving friends. Only gripe is the courses were very short and not all that fast, but it was 100% free. The shortness kept lines down and we got to drive a lot over the course of a few hours. If it comes around your area, check it out! You even get a T-shirt...can't beat that. :lol:
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you drove the new miata with 6 gears?.. and did they have any RX-7's at all?
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yeah, it was a new car event to drum up sales, although there was no salesman nagging you at the event at all, which was nice.J's_90CRX_Si said:
The miata was the all new design, with the 6 speed. shhhhhwwweet.
no rx-7s of course, though that would have been beyond awesome, the line for it would have been long enough so I could drive the other events more. :lol:
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