BREAKING BARRIERS
Tom Matano would love these types of get-togethers. Sadly, he left us this week. He was the automotive designer closely tied to the birth of the Mazda Miata itself, and he was a joy to see and be with at events that brought forth the joy and camaraderie in things like the Mazda Fan Festa. He would often fly himself to events, he wanted to be there for the fans.
And he loved the feeling.
We would see him at Laguna Seca for the quick drive of the ND, and we would often see him in the Philippines signing car hoods for adoring fans. He had close personal ties to the Miata Club of the Philippines, and was even gifted one of the special edition watches created by the club. He was a rock star in the automotive world.
As we said, he would have loved to be at an event like the one this weekend.
The third Mazda Fan Festa for the year in the Philippines has just concluded and it brought both a level up in terms of operation and a few surprises here and there. The Fan Festa is an attempt by Mazda Philippines to bring together the different communities that are fans of the brand and to generally support not only their brands but the level of automotive enthusiasm and community.
This was most particularly evident when Toyota Motor Philippines President Masando Hashimoto showed up in a racing suit. Hashimoto-san is a pretty avid motoring and motorsport enthusiast and he has run races on his own in the Toyota TGR Cup Philippines and even members of his family have similar passions. He actually attended and raced one of the heats for the MX-5 races using the car assigned to Mazda Philippines President Stephen Tan.
This was an excellent example of how automotive enthusiasm transcends brands and barriers. And as they both said, it is win-win and as Hashimoto-san pointed out, on his cap, he just loves cars. Other things happening during the weekend included track time for those that brought their Mazdas and special events particularly for those that wanted to put their B-50 pickup trucks to a test. There was also a wonderful event supported by the Miata Club of the Philippines that brought around the track children from Bahay Aruga, which provides temporary shelter for pediatric cancer patients.
The Fan Festa event has grown steadily, not only with the on-track time but also what goes on around it. There were some excellent food vendors, which is always much appreciated. Crowd favorites like Decimal Coffee were joined by new names such as the Humble Beginnings Food Trailer.
Additional supporters such as Shell, GT Radial, Momo and PartsPro had their own booths and exhibits where product discounts to be had but there were also games testing quickness of reflex. Something particularly enjoyed was the sim racing setup where people were allowed to race simulated Mazda MX-5 race cars on the Clark track that was just outside. This was a great step up for Mazda and we look forward to the fourth leg later in the year and even more in 2026.
