Bye-bye MX-5

After four years together it’s time for me and my 21 year old Mazda MX-5 to part company.  As I was preparing to advertise the car it occurred to me that I’d never got around to do a proper photo shoot… so in a brief break from the April showers I headed out, camera in hand.

This is my third MX-5.  Previously I had a 2005 mk2.5, and before that a 1999 mk2 version.  I love that MX-5’s are fun to drive, sporty, stylish, and have legendary reliability.  My next will be a rare green mk3.5 Sporting Black edition, hopefully.

Once I got into MX-5 ownership and the enthusiastic community of the MX-5 Owners Club I knew that one day I’d have to have a mk1 with pop up headlights.  The most popular colour for that age of MX-5 is red, but I wanted white as something a bit different.

This MX-5 may be old, but with a mere 64,000 miles on the clock and having grown up in Japan before being brought to the UK, she has no rust and is in great condition.  She also appears in a post about the new MX-5 and a post to celebrate her 60,000 mile ‘birthday’!

In photography terms it’s one of the few blogs filled with photos using just my Olympus 25mm f1.8 prime lens.  A couple of features of my Olympus OMD E-M1 camera came in really handy… The flip-out screen meant I could get the camera down load and use live view to frame the shot.  And by mounting the camera on a monopod and raising the camera five feet above my head I could use the wifi function with the mobile phone app to live view, frame, and shoot photos from high up.

After four years together it’s time for me and my 21 year old Mazda MX-5 to part company.  As I was preparing to advertise the car it occurred to me that I’d never got around to do a proper photo shoot… so in a brief break from the April showers I headed out, camera in hand.

This is my third MX-5.  Previously I had a 2005 mk2.5, and before that a 1999 mk2 version.  I love that MX-5’s are fun to drive, sporty, stylish, and have legendary reliability.  My next will be a rare green mk3.5 Sporting Black edition, hopefully.

Once I got into MX-5 ownership and the enthusiastic community of the MX-5 Owners Club I knew that one day I’d have to have a mk1 with pop up headlights.  The most popular colour for that age of MX-5 is red, but I wanted white as something a bit different.

This MX-5 may be old, but with a mere 64,000 miles on the clock and having grown up in Japan before being brought to the UK, she has no rust and is in great condition.  She also appears in a post about the new MX-5 and a post to celebrate her 60,000 mile ‘birthday’!

In photography terms it’s one of the few blogs filled with photos using just my Olympus 25mm f1.8 prime lens.  A couple of features of my Olympus OMD E-M1 camera came in really handy… The flip-out screen meant I could get the camera down load and use live view to frame the shot.  And by mounting the camera on a monopod and raising the camera five feet above my head I could use the wifi function with the mobile phone app to live view, frame, and shoot photos from high up.

MX-5 Owners Club National Rally 2015

This years MX-5 Owners Club National Rally was held at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire.  It was my second National Rally (photos from last years Rally are blogged here) and again this year the weather was perfect for driving around topless.

The National Rally was smaller than last years, but had the draw of the new Mazda MX-5 and some lucky owners brought their along just days after getting them.  It was good to see them amongst all the other MX-5s from the last 26 years.

There was also a small cone rally course for owners to test their skills.  For the first time I tried the video function on my Olympus E-M1 and got a couple of videos, which you can find the Just 10 Photos YouTube channel – red mk1 MX-5 and a silver mk1 MX-5.

MX-5 Owners Club National Rally 2014

2014 is a special year for MX-5 (or Eunos or Miata depending on where you are) owners such as myself.  The car is 25 years old this year, and the MX-5 Owners Club here in the UK is 20 years old.  So I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to the Owners Club National Rally at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon.

Around 2,000 MX-5s from the UK and beyond visited the event, which showcased the best MX-5s around in competitions of various categories.  Parts suppliers such as MX5 Parts and AutoLink where there tempting owners to part with cash, and for those with lots of pennies Mazda UK were there too.

Visitors could also see the many cars on display at the Motor Centre, and watch the team from Mission Motorsport put some cars through their paces.  Mission Motorsport is a charity which aims to aid in the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations by providing opportunities through Motorsport.

Of course I took my camera to capture some images from the day – the top ten photos are below.