Night light: We try overnight track ‘day’ in the Mazda MX-5

I am peddling my Mazda MX-5 as fast as I dare. In front of me is almost perfect darkness.

I know there’s a sharp right-hander coming up quickly, but I’m finding it difficult to pick a braking point, because behind me is a PENETRATING high beam from the front bumper-mounted auxiliary lights of a 1990s Mitsubishi Evo rally car. 

I turn right. Make it round the corner without incident. Then, indicate right, stay right, and hear the tsu tsu schuu of a turbo wastegate fly past on the left. Man, this driving at track in the dark malarkey is no joke. 

I am taking part in the “world’s first unlit night time track day” at Anglesey. Yep, North Wales, at night, in the winter. Mission Motorsport – the forces motorsport charity – does not mess about. 

It has hosted its Race of Remembrance endurance event at Trac Mon for more than a decade and has decided to run a track night to give regular folk the chance to enjoy the special madness that is a racing circuit, set next to the coast, at 2 degrees.

Mazda’s PR Manager, Owen Mildenhall, has invited me along in my long-term MX-5 so I can get a bit of track driving in. 

Owen is a man completely au fait with driving on track at night, having competed in the Nurburgring 24 hours, whereas I am not. In fact I have never even driven round Anglesey. So I decide to get there early, before daybreak, to at least get round the track during daylight hours.

Anglesey – despite what its General Manager Annette Freeman says – is in the arse end of nowhere. Which means I got to take the Mazda on its first long trip. In years gone by, a six-hour journey in a low-slung sports car would have probably warranted a separate article. But the ease at which a modern MX-5 can shrug this off makes it barely worth mentioning.

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