The Guinness Book of World Records officially recognized the recent gathering of over 400 units of Mazda MX-5 in Germany as the “longest continuous MX-5 parade of all time.”
“The excitement leading up to this event was amazing,” said Jeff Guyton, president and chief executive of Mazda Motor Europe. “Over 600 MX-5 owners applied to take part; so many that we didn’t have room for them all because of technical reasons. The event, the parade, the many visitors--Mazda MX-5 showed today why it’s still one of the best-loved sports cars on the planet.”
A total of 459 units of the MX-5 made it during the event at the UNESCO Zollverein World Heritage site in Essen, Germany on September 18.
MX-5s from 17 countries took part in breaking the world record with the biggest number of participants coming from Germany. A handful of special awards were given out to some of the participating cars. An MX-5 from Moscow was recognized as having traveled the farthest distance at 2,800 kilometers while a 21-year old first-generation model from Prague was recognized as the oldest. An MX-5 with the highest recorded mileage of 344,624 kilometers came from Switzerland.
The 459 MX-5s is nearly double of the former world record of 249 vehicles set in New Zealand in October 2005.
The recent gathering also generated funds for the SOS Children’s Villages as the last seats to join the MX-5 world record parade were auctioned on eBay. The auction raised €1,300, which Mazda Germany hiked to €3,000 for the SOS Children’s Villages.
