This post was originally published on March 24, 2016 on Grand Prix Road Trip at MyRoadTrip.net // under the title:
GLOBAL MX-5 CUP ASSEMBLY SHOP TOUR AT LONG ROAD RACING IN STATESVILLE, NC
As if my three week Spring Break Road Trip to marshal St. Pete GP and Sebring 12h couldn’t get any better, it totally did. The very last stop, albeit unscheduled, on the trip home I got to visit Long Road Racing the official assembly plant for Global MX-5 Cup cars. Yep!
It almost happened by accident. My marshal buddy Ben from South Carolina invited me to crash for the night on my drive home which I really appreciated and as we were BS’ing after dinner about MX-5’s and my Miata he suggested I visit the LRR shop. I knew nothing about it… always assuming that the Global MX-5 Cup race cars were probably built to spec in Japan and shipped around the world just like their road cars, but I would be wrong. The road cars are shipped, sort of body in white trim to North Carolina, where LRR strips them down and preps each car, hand-build mind you, to spec to be shipped around the country and the world for use in each country’s specific MX-5 Cup series.
The drive to Long Road Racing was about 3 hours from Florence, SC located at the intersection of Interstates 77 and 40 (I drove right past them on the way down to Florida being completely oblivious to the magic going on there). And was a very appropriate pit stop before the 9 hour drive from Statesville, NC back to New Jersey.
One of the LRR employees who was extremely welcoming gave me a private tour of the facility. Showing each step of the assembly process from teardown to build up, fabrication station, paint shop, etc. in a very exciting fashion. And even allowed me to take some shots of the finished cars before leaving. (*you can see a ton more pictures of the actual build and various fab components on Tom Long’s personal blog… as in Tom Long of Long Road Racing fame: https://longroadracing.wordpress.com/) But I love the fact I was able to take some actual pix besides all the mental pictures I took during the tour:
What an impressive facility and operation, I wish I could find a job with a place like this as it would totally complete my motorsport hobby…. ironically, Tom Long the owner of LRR was racing at Sebring this weekend, behind the wheel o the Mazda LMP2 car. I possibly even saw him without really knowing who he is.
While researching the trip after Ben brought it up I noticed that LRR was actually hiring people. So half jokingly I asked about it during my tour but being there in camo shorts and flip flops with three week old beard, I don’t think anyone would take me seriously. Not that I really have the skills they are probably looking for and for most marketing and business related jobs I’m actually interested in I’m sure the best candidates are chicks with long hair and big tits. But nonetheless it would be a killer opportunity to try and land something in the future… I certainly have the global experience to be useful 🙂
n the meantime, my enthusiastic tour guide said the shop is open to visitors and looking thru facebook I’ve seen whole MX-5 club get together’s at the facility, so if you’re driving by on I77 and I40 through North Carolina give LRR a visit, you’ll definitely enjoy the views inside the shop. It’s like a candy store in there. And at just $53,000 a pop, you can leave with your very own MX-5 Cup Car from Mazda Motorsports, Assembled right here in the US of A!
More info:
www.facebook.com/longroadracing
2668 Peachtree Rd, Statesville, NC 28625 (980) 223-8547
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