Zoom-Zoom!

Our Twin-Turbo V8 Mazda MX-5 project makes a splash at red centre nats.

- Simnon Telford

MANY folks – including me – were scratching their heads when the news dropped that the next car for our Carnage video series would be a Mazda MX-5. Known as a Miata in the US and Japan, the MX-5 is – rightly or wrongly – widely derided as a hairdresser’s car. And while it is true that they do handle a set of corners with aplomb, it is also the case that they are seriously lacking in horsepower.

Nevertheless, our Scotty had a vision of an MX-5 fitted with the ubiquitous LS1 V8, assisted by a pair of large turbochargers poking through the bonnet and balanced visually by a tubbed rear end capable of holding a set of 275 radials. The source of this inspiration? The idea of building something really wild to take advantage of the special street permits on offer at Red Centre NATS in Alice Springs.

It was an ambitious project, with an even more ambitious timeline, but with many hours of hard yakka and lots of help from some talented folks, we had the MX-5 on a car trailer and heading from Melbourne to Alice with zero time to spare.