Click on the front page above to view or download the PDF brochure for the new limited edition MX5 Kendo.
“Why are we so obsessed with meaningless performance figures?” Asks James May in his Daily Telegraph column. “Power is a wonderful thing, but there is a point beyond which it becomes not only facile but is in danger, as W O Bentley might have said, of corrupting performance. I still believe that the pleasure of driving comes not from the absolutes of performance, but from the nature of its delivery. I would argue that Mazda’s MX-5, although not especially fast in outright terms, is a high-performance car because it heightens the sensations relayed during driving.”
Spot on James, 900,000 owners agree with you completely. Yesterday I drove 50 miles on fast and hilly Yorkshire roads with the roof down and it was great fun, the MX5 is exhilarating to drive and always makes me smile. So just to prove James knows what he is talking about here is one of the best bits of Top Gear in recent times, James drives The Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph!
You can read the article in full by clicking on the Telegraph logo:
Race day featured beautiful blue skies, glistening snow and a morning temperature of -31º C. This ensured ideal conditions on the ice of Lake Kallsjön, which is located in the Östersund region of west-central Sweden. The race itself was conducted in two sessions, each two hours long, with the car completing the most laps the winner. Like last year’s MX-5 Open Race in Italy, it was drifting control and not pure speed that proved the decisive factor in the race. The Australians continued to dominate as they had on Day 1 and led for nearly the entire race. But then a small mistake, a spin-out, and Russia overtook them at the end, holding on for the chequered flag; with Australia second.
Car Magazine’s Jethro Bovingdon was one of the lucky drivers who participated in the race; so what does it feel like to drive an MX-5 on skinny snow tyres with 200 studs biting into a frozen lake? Jethro has written an exciting blog of his race experiences and you can read all about it by clicking on this colourful race car:
“Special Edition models of Mazda MX-5 have always been eagerly received by UK consumers and I’m sure the two new Kendo models will trigger a strong wave of fresh interest in our long-running star performer,” comments Mark Cameron, Sales Director, Mazda UK. “In Britain, the Mazda MX-5 has enjoyed 20 years of incredible popularity, with UK customers accounting for over 10 percent of global sales, while it has received a host of ‘best sportscar’ awards from motoring and consumer media. The enhanced practicality of the third-generation models, has enabled the MX-5 to become much more than a ‘sunny weekend’ car and our Roadster Coupe now accounts for the majority of sales as buyers look to use their Mazda sportscar all-year round.”
On sale from 1st March, both Kendo models feature a unique Stone Leather interior (with Stone coloured stitching on the steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake), unique 17-inch alloy wheels, exterior badging and floor mats, plus front fog lamps, heated seats, brushed aluminium style-bar trim and aluminium pedals. The Kendo Roadster Coupe boasts three additional items of equipment – a premium BOSE® audio system, Bluetooth® hands-free and cruise control. Both versions offer a choice of Sparkling Black or Dolphin Grey mica paint finish – free of charge. You can read full details in our earlier post by clicking on the Kendo logo below.
A proposal to move the clocks forward by one hour to “double summertime” will be published this week, but support for the move, which would make mornings darker, may depend upon where people live. David Cameron has said any plans to give the UK brighter evenings will only go ahead if it’s clear that the country is behind it.
If you live in London, then sunset would be at 2222 on 21 June, which is the longest day of the year. But in the winter solstice, on 21 December, it would not be fully light until sunrise at 0904. However, it would be a very different experience if you lived in Thurso in the Scottish Highlands, where under “double summertime”, the sun would not set until 2327 in mid-summer but it would not rise until 1003 in mid-winter.
So that you can see how it would affect you, seven cities are mapped above, and below there are ten more cities around the UK with the new sunrise and sunset times on the longest and shortest days of the year. Personally I am all in favour of the change to cut out the long winter evenings and do more motoring with the roof down, however topless night driving is a magical experience too!
Data courtesy of the BBC
