This question about does the new MX-5 have a 1.5 or 2.0 version of the Skyactiv petrol engine is really the big unknown. I even met the Mazda board member in charge of Skyactiv today (usual routine, hand over cards, bow, show pic of my Eunos on phone, bow again...) and he just grinned.
Then we got to see the car again at a private party ahead of the race. I reached to tug the bonnet release, bottled it and then chuckled when someone with less self control than me pulled it and the entire Mazda board and MX-5 development team pretty much ran across the room to throw themselves on the bonnet and latch it shut again.
I wasn't getting anything out of the engineers so instead chatted with the designers, who are always good value at these things. Design boss Ikuo Maeda has a twinkle in his eye and threw out some interesting titbits, like the fact the cabin is, as I'd thought, set further back in the chassis than before. Mounting the engine lower and further back for improved weight distribution necessitated this, Maeda saying this also puts you closer to the rear axle to get that seat of the pants sensation from the back wheels. Obviously this wouldn't have been possible if the inner wings had to accommodate 21-inch wheels like you'd get on most show cars - the MX-5 is running 16s even in this static unveil format, the skinny 195 section rubber hardly bigger than the 185s on my Mk1 Eunos. Bravo.
Was designing a car to look good on such small wheels difficult in this day and age? Yes, he told me. But it allows the bodywork to be much tighter and the car appear more compact. His colleague Masahi Nakayama, who joined Mazda the same year the MX-5 was launched in 1989 and still has the Eunos he bought that year, elaborated on the theme. "We have a shorter wheelbase and if you had big wheels the car would look like a toy. With the small wheels we have 'golden proportions'." Fair one.
He also had a fascinating piece of geekery (for nerds like me anyway) in the shape of the front end, which I thought was tall for pedestrian crash regs. Not so! The pointed crest in the wings, set back and inward from the wheel centre, is exactly where a line drawn from the kingpin would emerge from the bodywork. Thus there is both a visual reference point to allow placement in the corners but also a mental connection with the castor angle and kingpin inclination that supposedly gives you a closer interaction with the steering input. Jinba and, indeed, Ittai. Pretentious design waffle? Possibly, but the kind of thing I rather like. And a little less icky than Maeda's description of the rear wing flare as "kind of erotic". Ew.
From the driver's seat there's more good news. The body coloured door cappings tie the cabin to the exterior - "It's an open car, why would we want any barrier between the inside and outside?" asks Nakayama - and there's a very snug, driver oriented feel to the cabin. Further weight saving kudos is due for the weight saving manually operated roof, which can be folded away in a moment with one hand and is sprung loaded to let you raise it with equal speed. No excuses in other words.
Having been a little unsure on the first viewing this second and closer inspection revealed some real depth and interest to the design I'd not picked up on before. Who'd have guessed - I'm a fan.
To return to the most recent blog and comments click here.