Some people talk about the Mazda Miata Cup as if it were just a recent thing. You know… that fun, friendly and visually dazzling MX-5 race held during last year’s series of Mazda Fan Festas in Clark – that race with the packed grids and close finishes.
And this is why it may come as a quiet shock to realize that 2026 actually marks the Miata Cup’s 25th race season in the Philippines! Yes – literally a quarter of a century has passed since the first MX-5s lined up on a local grid, long before social media and even before race livestreams became a standard. The Miata Cup survived all the ups and downs of the country and well, just kept racing.
The Miata Cup always involved deceptively simple, identical cars. It had tight rules. And it recorded lap times that rewarded drivers with finesse more than those who used brute force. It involves a type of racing that is stripped down to its essentials – where driver skill, consistency, and respect for one’s peers matter just as much as outright speed. It was always a gentleman’s race. And so, over the years, it has become an attractive entry point for first-time racers, a nice proving ground for Miata veterans, and a rolling reunion for enthusiasts who agree that the Mazda MX-5 is not only a car, but a shared language.
The spirit of camaraderie shone bright most recently in November 2025, during the final leg of the Mazda Fan Festa Philippines – an event that also served as the closing round of the 2025 Miata Cup Season, among other activities. This Fan Festa also held the last leg of the MSCC (Manila Sports Car Club) Miata Spec Series, which is yet another (newer) type of (spec’d) MX-5 race series for fans to enjoy, launched only in 2022 (It had a planned inauguration in 2020, but was delayed by the pandemic).
Amid the crowds, the showcase of cars, the food kiosks, game stations, stalls of aftermarket car parts and the celebration of Mazda’s motorsports heritage, some owners of Mazda (stock and upgraded) vehicles also took to the track for a free opportunity to test their own Jinba Ittai (the core Mazda philosophy of horse and rider as one) on Clark International Speedway.
And during a recent Thanksgiving event hosted by Mazda Philippines in Cabuyao, Laguna, where they also revealed the newly updated 2026 CX-60 – which Mazda Philippines CEO Steven Tan described as being like a ‘grown-up MX-5’, because of its coveted 50-50 weight distribution – there was also talk about the Silver Anniversary of the Miata Cup in the Philippines, and how the race series has generally evolved to nurture fiercer competition these days, all while enabling participants to remain genuine friends! Proponents also revealed that this year’s Miata Cup will lean towards following the rules of Grand Touring (GT).
As the Miata Cup gears up for its 25th race season in the Philippines, it’s impossible to separate the series from the people who dared to start it in the first place. Come to think of it, the Miata Club of the Philippines simply wanted an avenue where MX-5 owners could drive their cars the way they were meant to be driven. And what began as a small group of enthusiasts organizing track days and friendly competitions in 2001 grew, season by season, into a racing series that has outlasted trends, tracks, and even some generations of cars. The Philippine Miata Cup exists because a club believed that local motorsports could be inclusive, fair, and above all – fun!
There is a lot of gratitude for all the club members who volunteered their time, for the drivers who kept showing up, and for the unwavering support of Mazda Philippines – most especially under the helm of Steven Tan – who always trusted that simple racing could tell the best stories. So let’s continue to tell them!
