Friday 9th January 2015

BBR upgrades for new MX-5

We have a chat with BBR's Neil Mckay about the 200hp package to be offered upon launch for the new MX-5

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News broke earlier this week that BBR is already hard at work on tuning packages for the new fourth-gen MX-5. Which is pretty keen given that nobody outside of Mazda has actually driven it yet.

NC Super 200 was ace - hopes are high!

The brief press release from BBR confirmed the tuner's intention to offer a power upgrade to the ND MX-5 comparable with the 200hp Super 200 version of the outgoing NC. We drove that car not so long ago and were impressed with the extra power BBR squeezed out of the existing 2.0-litre engine through a combination of ECU fettling and more traditional tuning via new cams and exhaust. Clearly sympathetic to the MX-5's core ethos, BBR's Neil McKay is keen not to overwhelm the car's balance or turn it into something it isn't. But at the same time realises a little bit more power can't hurt. And if you really do crave something a little more ballistic there is of course the GT270 turbo version.

The NC's long-serving MZR engine - related to Ford's Duratec - will be replaced for the ND by Mazda's latest high-compression Skyactiv motor. So how is BBR managing to develop tuning packages before the car has even launched? By getting hold of a Mazda 3 with the same engine and using that as the basis for the development programme. "It's a very different engine," admits Neil, "and it has a lot of lightweight components and very high compression.

Just a rendering for now but looks the biz

There's always headroom with cams and exhaust thanks to the emissions laws though and we can still pass an MoT with a different exhaust and cam profile. We'll have the software cracked shortly - that's the hard part and was always going to take a while." Accustomed as BBR is to fabricating bespoke manifolds and exhaust systems he's confident the internal upgrades and breathing mods can be accommodated within the MX-5's packaging without too much trouble too.

Styling and chassis mods will follow in due course, these of course being aspects of the car BBR can't work on directly until it's got an ND in its workshop. Not a fan of overly stiff coilover set-ups Neil expects a more conventional chassis kit based around custom springs and Bilstein or - more likely - Koni dampers as used on the Super 200 and GT270. A brake kit will also be offered but Neil's keen to ensure it'll fit behind the standard 16-inch wheels so as to maintain the road-friendly balance. Turbo versions will follow later in the year, these likely to use 17s with more rubber on the road.

200hp upgrade for starters, turbos to follow

Having seen the car Neil is clearly fired up to be first out of the gate with the upgrade packages, admitting they were a little slow catching on to the demand with the NC and that the interest was "a real eye opener." No such fear this time around and the first upgrades will be ready more or less in time for when the first cars reach customers this summer. We'll be knocking on the door shortly afterwards.

 

[Robstar111r]

Can't wait to see this in the flesh. I'm sure BBR will do a good job on the ND. I've got an NC with the BBR Super 200, love it.

[vz-r_dave]

That is such a fantastic looking car!

[Sway]

Awesome.

Next year, depending on price and so on, it'll be a toss up between this with BBR upgrades or a Zenos E10.

In some ways, having had a NA Eunos import, I hope it's this - increased polar moment of inertia is rarely a bad thing...

[redroadster]

Hope it drives as well as it looks an affordable roadster top marks

[T0MMY]

Is it just me or are the rear tyres on the wrong way round in that last pic?

Anyway, love the idea of a reasonably powerful normally aspirated MX5. I turbo'd my old one but this seems much more appropriate.

[StottyEvo]

vz-r_dave said:

That is such a fantastic looking car!

My thoughts exactly, it really is a beauty. With these performance upgrades available it should be one hell of a package.

[Amirhussain]

The new MX-5 is a such a great looking car.

[uremaw]

I seem to be in the minority here, but i think it looks awful. Really awkward proportions and angles on it. Lots of nice details in isolation, but clumsily mashed together without any cohesion. Not a fan.

[Quhet]

Looks like a mini Z4

[Blayney]

Colour does it no favours. Good looking car otherwise. Does this mean that there won't be a 200bhp MX-5 from the factory to go up against the GT86?

[forzaminardi]

uremaw said:

I seem to be in the minority here, but i think it looks awful. Really awkward proportions and angles on it. Lots of nice details in isolation, but clumsily mashed together without any cohesion. Not a fan.

I agree, to my eyes it looks dumpy and ill-proportioned. Perhaps it will look better in the flesh. Always good to have an affordable new sports car being launched, though, well done to Mazda for keeping the MX5 going.

[Sway]

Blayney said:

Colour does it no favours. Good looking car otherwise. Does this mean that there won't be a 200bhp MX-5 from the factory to go up against the GT86?

Reading between the lines, who knows!

I think it's a case of they're doing a package containing the same types of Mods as the nc200 package - but the power the new engine will produce hasn't been mentioned.

So it could be that the regular car is 200-210bhp, and the kit will be called the 240 or thereabouts.

Here's hoping!

[Reavenger]

Cross between an F-Type and a Z4 for me in terms of looks. Will there be an LSD on offer or not needed?

[soad]

Quhet said:

Looks like a mini Z4

Indeed.

[underphil]

Sway said:

Blayney said:

Colour does it no favours. Good looking car otherwise. Does this mean that there won't be a 200bhp MX-5 from the factory to go up against the GT86?

Reading between the lines, who knows!

I think it's a case of they're doing a package containing the same types of Mods as the nc200 package - but the power the new engine will produce hasn't been mentioned.

So it could be that the regular car is 200-210bhp, and the kit will be called the 240 or thereabouts.

Here's hoping!

I think it's fairly certain that the most powerfull engine will be the 160bhp 2.0 unit, I can't imagine that BBR would invest the money in developing upgrades for the 160bhp unit if they don't know that it would be the power unit used

+ if Mazda want more power in the MX5, I don't think they would develop a new engine while they could just stick the 2.5 unit from the CX5/6 in there

[P e t e]

forzaminardi said:

uremaw said:

I seem to be in the minority here, but i think it looks awful. Really awkward proportions and angles on it. Lots of nice details in isolation, but clumsily mashed together without any cohesion. Not a fan.

I agree, to my eyes it looks dumpy and ill-proportioned. Perhaps it will look better in the flesh. Always good to have an affordable new sports car being launched, though, well done to Mazda for keeping the MX5 going.

I agree. There are so many things wrong with this design. I hope this is just a concept pic to whet appetites. Otherwise, BBR have ruined a very pretty Mazda design. OK, so widening the track meant flaring the arches. That's fine but what is that ugly misplaced character line around the door? That crease is so awkward. The front and rear bumpers needed modifying but they are less well handled now too. Even the placing of the wing mirrors beneath the belt line means that the passenger side mirror will be partially obscured by the bodywork for the driver. The design is certainly more agressive but the changes have been brutally handled. I think they could have given a more assertive stance and made the detailing changes more effectively. Please take a look at the original side by side with the BBR and say I'm wrong

[Gandahar]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, can understand how some people are not too keen, others like. I am in the like camp.

Of course it's how it looks in the flesh, I am hoping my first thought is " Wow, that is tiny!" as that would be a good sign.

I'm still wondering about the electric steering though, the NC is not too bad so I hope it is better or at least same. I'm kinda worried it might be worse though.

When you ain't got 500bhp the other parts have to shine. Bit like the GT86, people complain about the engine being a bit coarse as it has to be rev'd out and it shows it up.

I think BBR will do a fine job on this. Like the fact that they don't over stiffen the NC and will not do same on the ND.