This Mazda MX-5 Race Is High-Speed Chess, Or Maybe Russian Roulette?

Mazda shifted its long-running MX-5 Media Endurance Race from Tsukuba Circuit to Fuji Speedway and trimmed it from four hours to three, handing every team a single 40-liter tank with no refueling allowed. Because this was the first dry running of the new format, none of the 22 teams knew how much fuel their cars would actually burn over three hours of racing. The author's Start Your Engines team climbed from 17th on the grid into the lead twice before running dry with three minutes left, one of 13 of the 22 starters to exhaust their tanks.

The Ahead Magazine team won by threading the needle between speed and conservation, coasting out of fuel just 200 meters past the finish line. The race, in other words, rewarded whoever best guessed a number nobody actually knew going in.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.