Mazda and Pirelli may have set the world record for most fun in a Miata
A team of four drivers in a Mazda MX-5 shod with Pirelli tires has captured the world record for driving the most hairpin turns in 12 hours.
The NA Miata, with its headlights proudly popped up, was driven in one-hour shifts by Cyndie Allemann, Stefan Novitzki, Jan Spieß, and Niki Schelle on a snaking, 16-mile section of Glacier Road in Austria’s Tyrol region of the Alps.
Why choose a first-generation MX-5? Well, a lithe roadster is a natural choice for Alpine driving, but Mazda also wanted to celebrate 30 years of the Miata/MX-5—and Pirelli wanted to show off its line of tires for vintage and modern classic cars. The Mazda was shod in Pirelli’s P Zero Asimmetrico tires that have a classic tread design with modern performance construction.
The previous record stood at 1500 hairpin turns in 12 hours and the Pirelli/Mazda team blew it out of the water by driving through 2900 of the tight twists in their 12-hour rally for the record. That’s one hairpin every 15 seconds.
We’d love to take a spot behind the wheel of a classic MX-5 for some of those Alpine hairpins, although we’d pass on being a passenger for more than one trip up at a time. Otherwise, we might set our own carsickness-related world record.
Short of travelling to Austria, what’s your favorite winding road? Share it with us in the Hagerty Forums.
