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11 October 2024 · Mazda Stories

Brass Monkeys Take MX-5 To The Top

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By Ben Smithurst

The cold is a killer. It is also unpleasant, and in the wonderful Mazda MX-5, a car that offers the best of both worlds, it is unnecessary.

This simple fact is lost on the otherwise venerableĀ MX-5 Car Club of NSW, which is coalescing around us at 5AM, roadside, in Eastern Creek. The 2024 Brass Monkey Charity Run is about to begin, and it is a crisp three degrees, and the members of the MX-5 Club of NSW appear to be mostly mad.

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ā€œIs this event crazy? Oh, yes!ā€ says Andrew Lord, a member of the club who is filling in for event organiser and former Club Captain Mike Soulos, whoā€™s at home in bed with Covid, or possibly just a strong case of sanity.

ā€œItā€™s all about the spirit of adventure,ā€ says Andrew. ā€œYou know, getting up early, having the roof down at minus -1Ā°C ā€“ itā€™s really fun. Thereā€™s something about being in convoy, heading west, all in the same vehicles, seeing the looks from other drivers. Itā€™s like walking to the football in a group, all in your supporter jerseys.

ā€œWe love the camaraderie.ā€

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Engines running, tops come down - an event tradition - and we roll out. Scores of MX-5s strung along the Great Western Highway beaded with chill water and iridescent below streetlights. Ski wear is advisedly popular.

We are headed to Bathurst, where you can count the degrees in the BOMā€™s predicted maximum daily temperature on one hand, even if youā€™ve done a Brass Monkey before and lost a digit to frostbite.

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Weā€™ll cross the Blue Mountains on the way, where it is so cold that there is black ice, and birds are falling frozen from the sky, shattering on the road like wine glasses, and anyone leaving the house for any reason knows how Captain Oates felt when he told Scott of the Antarctic that he was just stepping outside and might be some time.

As the worldā€™s best-selling roadster, ever, the MX-5ā€™s success is based on more than one thing. And itā€™s not just the drop top. Its rear-wheel punchiness and inherent fun-factor is built for bends, but itā€™s also a surprisingly fine grand tourer.

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Andrew was right. As we scrape the ceiling and purr towards the plains, our Aero Grey Metallic MX-5 GT RS does indeed attract attention from other drivers.

Many of them are club members. Pleading ignorance, weā€™d begun the run by ignoring the Brass Monkeyā€™s roof-down credo.

There is probably a German word to describe the feeling of peer pressure from people we donā€™t know, but if our non-compliance irritated fellow MX-fivers, it was at least hard to tell. Other participantsā€™ faces were typically frozen, maybe literally, into the rictus of a smile; the driver of one attractive, young, and very tall couple, Ben and Hannah, was wearing a full bright orange balaclava.

ā€œFor half the run I just had my hat on, and my ears wereĀ freezing,ā€ Ben told us later. ā€œThen I remembered I had this in the glove box.ā€

Organisers stress that the Brass Money is not a cannonball run; speed is not the point. Whether this began as a frigid concession to black ice and non-compatibility of gear sticks and Gore-Tex mittens is a mystery, but it suits the roads, which are highway smooth rather than twisty.

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We did not crack and pull over to put the top down in solidarity until the sun rose, an hour from the finish. ā€œNo judgement!ā€ Andrew would tell us, smiling (unconvincingly).

This drew some ribbing as we stopped for a hot breakfast, taken at the Bathurst RSL.

The contrast between our cosseted relative comfort, and that of Mal, parked beside us in his roll-bar-fitted, non-air-conditioned MX-5 track car, was extreme.

ā€œI think thatā€™s a $300 fine!ā€ he laughed, waggling a jovial finger as the icicles in his eyebrows clinked merrily, like windchimes. ā€œBut weā€™ll forgive you. Weā€™re a forgiving bunch! Just donā€™t do it again.ā€

Forgiving, and numerous.

There was Grant, who was preparing for the Northern Territory Bash in his custom modded ā€˜MX-5 Safariā€™ - featuring a significant lift job, a dust-snorkel atop the A-pillar, four affixed Max-Trax 4WD recovery boards, and knobbly off-road tyres.

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Then there was Keith, who fell in love with the brand as a youth, and whose entire family now drives Mazdas ā€“ including his jet-fighter pilot sons, whom he texts as we head over to cruise the famous Mount Panorama circuit at legal speeds.

There was Lyn, who wore her MX-5 club name badge on the forehead flap of her trapper hat, and dapper gents in mustard-toned sartorial outfits, and couples, and old friends, and new acquaintances, and sons in airmenā€™s goggles.

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Four generations of the worldā€™s finest top-optional driverā€™s car have developed a fanbase thatā€™s as passionate as it is diverse. But passion is easily mistaken for madness.

At 5am, in the dark, while stamping oneā€™s feet like a Siberian watch house guard, the Brass Monkey seems objectively mad. Itā€™s not. Or not entirely mad, anyway. But seat heaters help. As does the warm afterglow of arrival.

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ā€œMike missed this one,ā€ says Andrew. ā€œHeā€™ll be grateful for a warm bed and a hot drink this morning. But you bet heā€™ll be back next year.ā€

The cold is a killer. The MX-5 is an icon. Theyā€™re both great at bringing people together.

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For more information of the MX-5 Club of NSW, the iconic Brass Monkey Run and upcoming club events, visit below: