Four Hours at Full Throttle in an MX-5

Nobody will argue with us when we say that the Mazda MX-5 is one of the highest-fun-factor cars on the planet. Which is why the Hiroshima-based company created a special 4-hour, one-make endurance race showcasing the car's cornering prowess. First run in 1989, when the original roadster surfaced, the mid-September event has become a regular fixture on the Japanese calendar. This year, to celebrate the launch of the all-new MX-5, Mazda built 26 race-spec versions, and then invited two-dozen Japanese car magazine teams to test their skills over Japan's most popular racetrack, the 1.26-mile-long Tsukuba Circuit.

For the fourth year running, yours truly entered an all-Aussie media squad aptly named Team Australia. In car number 33, we started from 13th on the grid, and by the first corner, had jumped to 8th. Within just 15 minutes, start driver Johnny Boston had threaded his way through the tightly packed field and into the lead. We could almost taste victory. So how did we fare? Watch to find out.