Anyone heading to Goodwood’s Festival of Speed will be able to see the Mazda MX-5 RF edition in person, just in case they missed its New York International Auto Show reveal.
The Mazda MX-5 RF separates itself from the typical car with various design revisions that give it a different side and rear profile, as part of what Mazda calls its ‘KODO: Soul of Motion’ design.
The star of the show is, of course, to do with what the RF bit stands for. Unlike the standard car, the RF – short for Retractable Fastback – has an electrically-folding hardtop roof, which opens and closes in 12 seconds at the touch of a button.
Even though the roof mechanism is as complicated as that of the Porsche 911 Targa, it folds away in such a away the piddly 130-litre boot is unaffected so at least you can still fit a modest amount of things in.
There is the small matter of how much extra weight the mechanism adds and whether it affects the brilliant 50:50, rear-wheel drive character of the standard car. Unofficial reports suggest weight gain of more than 40kg.
Plus some purists will shun the idea of a more soundproofed, comfortable drive but that retractable roof will probably pay for itself come winter time.
The MX-5 RF will be static at Goodwood on the main Mazda stand, which means, sadly, no watching it blast up the 1.16-mile hill climb course.
The one-millionth MX-5 will also be on display while the MX-5 Speedster and MX-5 Spyder concept cars will be located in the ‘Raise the Roof’ music area. Attendees of the Moving Motor Show on Thursday will have a chance to take the MX-5 up the hill.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed runs from the 23rd of June to the 26th, 2016. Tickets are on sale now, if you fancy a (hopefully) sunny weekend of cars, food and booze.
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