There are a number of car brands that are so obscure and uncommon that it doesn’t surprise you when you don’t recognize one of their cars or concept cars, but that’s probably not the case with Mazda. In the United States, Mazda’s are a pretty popular option for sedans, small sports cars like the Miata, and SUVs, but there is one car built within the last few years that you’ve probably never heard of: it’s the Mazda RT24-P, or the Mazda Road To 24.

What is the RT24-P and why was it created?

If you’ve looked at pictures or videos of the Mazda RT24-P you’ve probably realized this isn’t a street-legal car – so rest assured you haven’t been missing them driving by inconspicuously without you knowing. The RT24-P was a racing prototype designed by the collaboration of Mazda with another race-focused group.

That group is called Multimatic Motorsports, a Canadian-based company, a racing team extension of Multimatic Engineering, companies that have a background and knowledge of racing since 1992.

The car itself was designed with one purpose in mind, and one purpose only: to dominate the track. It was released at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show and after slight remodeling in 2017, it was optimized for performance on the track.

The race car itself is incredibly impressive. In technical jargon, the car has a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis and weighs an impressively light 2,050lbs – including the driver. It has so far been raced in 27 races and has ‘won’ 3 of them, which is impressive considering the stiff competition.

A real-life racecar

The Mazda RT24-P isn’t just a digitally designed concept, it’s a real-life track-ready race car that you can see at many race tracks like Sebring International Raceway or Daytona International Speedway.

The RT24-P has yet to place first in any race it has competed in, but it does face some pretty well-developed competitors. As a car designed for races like the 24 Hours of Daytona or the 12 Hours of Sebring, it’s important to remember that these cars are designed to go as fast as possible, for as long as possible. While they have impress 0 – 60mph times, endurance performance is the key to winning.

You may not have heard of this Mazda if you aren’t a big fan of racing, but the RT24-P has a pretty standard 2.0L 4-cylinder engine that is turbocharged, which gives it something in common with its full-scale production siblings. The RT24-P is overall a really neat car and even though it hasn’t won awards for dominating the track or being the fastest prototype race car, Mazda and the Multimatic Motorsports team did a great job of engineering the car to hold it’s own on the track.

The Mazda RT24-P is a track-only car that is not available for sale to any private party, and will most likely become a non-street legal collectible once it is retired.