Total MX-5 – July 2019

6 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019

NEWS

It’s ever-busy in the big, wide world of MX-5s: here are a few things we’ve spotted...

WERE YOU THERE at Elvington

Airfield near York on Sunday 28

April, when the MX-5 Owners

Club tried to smash the world

record for the most Mazdas

moving at one time on a track,

and then the most

convertibles? Chances are you

were, because there sure were a

lot of MX-5s driving around that

enormous runway, braving some

not so wonderful weather.

More than 1500 cars turned up

to join the parade to create an

awesome spectacle, like being

stuck in rush hour traffic on the

motorway with only MX-5s for

as far as the eye can see.

To be part of the record

attempt is something that MX-

owners will be able to dine out

on for years, although they

might have to choose their

audience carefully – non-

believers might question the

sanity of anyone prepared to

drive hundreds of miles through

biting winds, just to sit in a long

queue of convertibles for an

hour, and then circle a huge

concrete runway in pursuit of a

world record.

At the time of going to press

the world records hadn’t been

ratified by the Guinness World

Records organisation, but

regardless of the outcome, the

attempt itself was a colossal

undertaking, even if the MX5OC

is the largest MX-5 club in the

world and boasts some

extraordinarily keen members.

So what did go on behind the

scenes, and why even consider

doing it in the first place? The

MX-5 Owners Club’s Iain

Fleming gives us some insight...

‘We previously set a record

for the most convertibles on

the move at the track in Blyton

back in 2012. It was only about

200 cars, though, and the Dutch

later beat our record. As the

world’s largest MX-5 club we

thought it only right and proper

that we should reclaim that

record for the UK, and it was

always in the back of our minds

to have another crack at it.

‘The club’s Spring Rally is a

mobile event that moves

around the country and gets

planned a very long way in

advance, two years or more.

When our Yorkshire region

group agreed to host the 2019

event, the first of our 30th

anniversary celebrations, and

stage it at Elvington, the idea of

the record resurfaced. And so

my conversations with Guinness

World Records began roughly

two years ago.

‘Dealing with Guinness is

quite difficult as there’s a huge

number of rules and

stipulations attached to any

record attempt. And there’s a

fee mechanism depending on

Anatomy of a record attempt

At its 2019 Spring Rally at Elvington Airfield, the MX-5 Owners Club

attempted to set two world records for the most Mazdas moving on a

track at one time, as well as the most convertibles. Here’s what went

on behind the scenes