You spin me right round, baby: the rotary engine revolutionaries
That’s it, go on, snigger. The Wankel rotary engine may have a crass-sounding name, but the cars it powered were anything but. With fewer moving parts than a traditional piston engine, the rotary was smoother, quieter, and – hurrah! – more revvy. Initially the idea of Felix Wankel in the 1920s, at the dawn of […]
Mazda K360 – three wheeled evolution
The Mazda K360 truck may not look very evolutionary at first glance. But look beyond the lack of wheels, and you’ll find a smartly designed tiny truck that offered reliable (and dry!) transportation to the masses. It also influenced the firm’s first mass-selling passenger car playing a massive part in the automotive powerhouse they have […]
RX-7 Regularity Rally
Think rotary engine, and it is more than likely the Mazda name that first springs to mind. While several models in its history utilised such engines, it is the RX-7 that enjoys the most famous relationship. The first-generation car made its debut in 1978 and is often referred to as many things, the FB or […]
Mazda RX7 – 40 years
40 years on from its launch and it’s obviously impossible to talk about this superb and great-looking sports car without homing in on its most unique and original feature; the Wankel rotary engine. Designed by a German, Felix Wankel, the rotary engine consists of a triangle-shaped piston spinning, in one direction, within a pinched oval. […]
How I ended up with my MX-5
Waitrose, we can blame Waitrose for this one. They make the best ravioli and I’m more than happy to drive 20 miles to get a high quality packet of ravioli. That probably strikes you as being a bit odd, but is it stranger than finding a random Mazda MX-5 specialist out in the middle of […]
MX-5 – born to race?
One of Mazda’s marketing statements when it comes to motorsport in North America is “In grassroots racing, more Mazdas race on any given weekend in North America than any other manufacturer”. While this may be the case across the pond at least, there could also be some truth in that when it comes to Mazdas […]
The birth of the MX-5
Our Japanese friends are a thoughtful, spiritual lot. It was their spiritual reflections on the famous lightweight British sports cars of the 60s and 70s that led them down the path to creating what was to eventually become the world’s most popular sports car – the MX-5. Of course it was Hiroshima-based firm Mazda who […]
Miataland
First unveiled in 1989 at the Chicago Auto Show, The Mazda MX5 has been around for a while now, and shows no sign of losing its popularity as a beautifully engineered roadster.
Now in its fourth incarnation, the styling, sophistication and safety features may have naturally updated and evolved over the years, but the classic formula that made this car such a hit nearly 30 years ago remain the same, and that’s the secret behind this little cracker. It’s a car for everybody and a car that demands to be driven. It’s been unfairly described as ‘a hairdresser’s car’ by a whole army of people who’ve never even sat in one, never mind driven one, and it’s only when you do drive one, that you very quickly begin to understand why people have fallen in love with it over the years, and how the simple recipe that Mazda created in the late 80s, is still at the heart of the MX5 in 2017.
SlammedUK is riding high – we speak to founder Jordan Clarke
SlammedUK founder Jordan Clarke tells us why he started the brand, and what he really thinks about the ‘scene’. Danni Bagnall: So, Jordan; tell us about SlammedUK? Jordan Clarke: SlammedUK is technically an ‘Automotive Lifestyle Brand’, but that phrase seems somewhat overused these days, with a new name and ‘brand’ popping up on social media […]
Mazda RX-500
Wheezy, rotary Mazda wildchild…