Miatas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

It was pretty seca alright. Dry Lake. But Laguna Seca sounds so much more appealing. But more than 1,800 Miataphiles filed into a huge, dusty parking area, choreographed by volunteers who shaped us into a field that spelled out MX-5 25 in the negative dirt-space. (MX-5 is an alias for the Miata, this year is the 25th anniversary of its introduction.) We all stood around and talked while a helicopter flew over and took stills and video of us and our artfully-arranged vehicles. Good times. Good times. Our Green Group made a good showing, some 18 strong, 3 rows of 6. We'll appear just at the intersection of the X, I believe on the right side.

We also got to see the newest version of the Miata, the ND (there have been Ns A through C, Bergy is an NB)  and now the ND that will be released as a 2015. It is stunning! Much better in "person" than the early photos released the other day. Less hippy and less aggressive, a bit friendlier-looking than the photos, I think. It had dual exhausts, two tips together on the passenger side. Very low and nimble-looking. It drove by once and then was gone, in a truck, to New York. There is supposed to be a non-running mockup on display tomorrow for more deliberate perusal. Maybe tomorrow my camera battery won't die like it did today, just as the ND went by. I've certainly lost my photo-chops, and that's a fact.

In the photo above, you can see a small section of the field with its 1,800+ Miatas. Really quite something. That's Bergy in the foreground. The guy in the Hawaiian shirt is Mark Booth, one of the moderators on Miata.net, the source of most Miata wisdom. If you look carefully through the windshield of his car (the red one) you can see dark inserts on his tan seats. His was the on-line inspiration for Bergy's dark green-on-tan seats. It just happened that Bergy was placed nose-to-nose with his car. We'll be meeting Mark and some of his Southern California group in Oklahoma when we head east on Route 66 as they return on 66 from Chicago. As I said, Good Times.

I have to admit though, I am pretty baked.

Fresh batteries and more fun tomorrow.