Perfect for California but for the UK?
Mazda’s MX-5 Spyder was first shown at the SEMA show just a few weeks back and while it sounded fun on paper in the flesh it’s an absolute stunner. Or maybe that’s just the Californian sun going to our heads.
Little more than a chop-top MX-5 with a Boxster Spyder style minimalist shower cap, the slammed ride height and pared back bodywork really make sense of the slightly gawky looks of the standard car. Only last week a Mazda insider back in the UK mused to us the attraction of making a lightweight, track-ready MX-5 and the fact the standard engine is in fact basically the same as a Ford Duratec 2.0-litre means there’s plenty of tuning know-how out there. You can see where this particular daydream is going but a Cosworth crate engine in a car that looked like this would certainly tick a few boxes!
430hp screamer is a Grand Am champ
Also on the Mazda stand and worthy of merit for no other reason than it looks damned cool is this RX-8 Grand Am race car. And although it appears fairly standard it’s in fact a Porsche GT3-beating, all-carbon, triple rotor monster. 430bhp and a kerb weight of just 1,043kg sound promising, these $375,000 customer race cars honed since first appearing in 2006 and turning in a championship winning performance in 2010. Indeed, it only missed out on the crown this year by a single point. Just imagining the noise from that side exhaust at 9,000rpm makes the ears bleed.