Racers worldwide have made lightening Mazda MX-5’s more than an art or craft: there is a science to shedding grams and gaining pace.
This 2009 concept from Mazda’s European R&D center is a serious and comprehensive speedster conversion and custom strip-out. Once totally bare, the full MX-5 Superlight was resprayed in a Japanese Racing white pearl. The color and the contrast details for the hood and double bubble rollbars make the MX-5 Superlight’s proportions even more intensely rear-drive. A favorite detail is the brake light LED lining those integrated roll hoops.
2009 Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept
Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept
Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept is an answer to the world of automobiles and individual mobility moving towards energy efficiency, environmental compatibility and uncompromised safety – along with dynamic attributes and driving fun.
In its efforts to offer pure driving enjoyment, while meeting its ecological and social responsibilities, Mazda has been focusing on weight reduction as a core base technology. For 20 years, reducing weight has been a tradition with the Mazda MX-5. It provided the inspiration for the radical design of Mazda’s latest show car and its radical interpretation of the cult roadster.
This year Mazda celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first Mazda MX-5 roadster, which laid the cornerstone for its Zoom-Zoom brand philosophy – reason enough for Mazda designers to create a fully-drivable show car, the Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept. There are no plans to build this car, but it demonstrates how individual mobility can be maintained in a way that uses fewer natural resources.
Mazda’s European R+D centre in Oberursel has created a show car that represents the essence of Mazda’s fun-to-drive aspect. Based on the brand icon Mazda MX-5 Roadster, the Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept is a pure, uncompromising two-seat sports car meant to be affordable to just about anyone. The main challenge for the design team in creating this roadster was “to evolve the MX-5, developed to perfection during the last 20 years, to a higher and extreme level,” says Project Lead Designer Hasip Girgin.
The result of their efforts is a roadster show car with an exciting design that is especially lightweight and distilled down to the very basics of sporty driving, that still manages to provide modern safety technologies. In an increasingly digitalized world, it creates a linear, direct bond between man and machine. Its conceptual purity means even better driving dynamics and fuel efficiency, which is accomplished by keeping the vehicle below the 1000 kg threshold. As a show car for lightweight construction and driving enjoyment, the Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept is the ideal ambassador for Mazda’s brand values.
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.