North American MotorSports Expo includes exhibits, seminars, a lot of Mazda and runs alongside the SCCA National Convention.
There is a wide variety of automotive and motorsports trade shows, but many of those are tough to get into or make use of unless one’s an industry insider. The North American MotorSports Expo and Conference, though, welcomes anyone to come see the displays and attend seminars of great value to the amateur or professional racer.
The SCCA National Convention is held in conjunction with the MotorSports Expo, and the two combined pack a powerful punch of seminars and activities. Mazda Motorsports, with Mazda being the official car of both SCCA and NASA, in addition to being the most-raced cars on any given weekend, will obviously have a powerful presence at this year’s show, which takes place Feb. 20-21 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C.
“We will have two simulators running at all times. More than that, we will have two of our pro drivers, Tom Long and Liam Dwyer, spend 30 minutes breaking down how to tackle a racetrack, much in the same way they do for the BEHIND THE ZOOM series. They will fill out track maps for a couple of racetracks, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca being one, of course, review turn-by-turn, then put up a time on the simulator of that track to see who can beat it. First review will be at 5 p.m. on Friday,” says David Cook, Business Development Manager for Mazda Motorsports.
“We’ll also have several Mazda Motorsports staff on hand, including myself, Steve Sanders and Scott Kaluza to answer questions and support our racers. We’ll have some information on the development of the hotly anticipated 2016 MX-5 racecar and the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires. Even more, Liam and Tim will speak, and answer questions, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM about the top 10 must-dos to climb the racing ladder. It will be fun.”
Mazda racers current and past will be presenting several seminars. That includes Mazda SKYACTIV Prototype driver Long who, along with Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Street Tuner MX-5 racer Dwyer, will present a seminar titled, “Using Coaching and Data to Help You Climb the Ladder.”
Randy Pobst, who has won SCCA National Championships in a Miata, raced Mazda6s in World Challenge and most recently an MX-5 in the Continental Tires Series, will be the keynote speaker on Friday, giving a speech called, “Fear on the Track: When it Hurts and When it Helps.” Also look for many friends of Mazda presenting seminars, such as AiM Sports Roger Caddell, BFGoodrich’s Ken Payne and Charles Espenlaub.
The MSX Expo is only $10, or free for SCCA members. To get access to all the seminars, it’s only $145 ($95 for SCCA members). Access to the show and seminars is included with SCCA National Convention registration.
For more information, see www.msxexpo.com.