The sports car, modified with a turbocharged V8 engine, had 1,000-hp to help it fly down the drag strip at a speed of 157 mph.
On the face of it, the Mazda MX-5 — or Miata — makes for one of the best small sports cars you can buy today.
It offers the best value with its low price and small, reliable engine, and rewards with tons of low-speed fun from its rear-wheel-drive lightweight chassis.
If there is a drawback, however, it could be that the Miata is somewhat under powered. With even the newest examples topping out at 184 hp from a 2-liter naturally aspirated engine, it isn’t fast, relative to most modern turbocharged machines around today.
Over on YouTube, Race Your Ride’s channel has the solution — a massively tuned and turbocharged Miata which will beat most things you line up against it in a drag race.
The Matt Lamphier LS-Engined Miata Turbo Is All Kinds Of Awesome
While retaining the small and lightweight body of the 1992 Miata, the design of the little Mazda gets improved with the addition of a 3rd-generation Chevrolet LS turbocharged V8 engine to increase the output of this 5.3-liter engine from 300 hp to 1,000 hp.
According to the video coverage, it’s a single-precision 7576 turbo blowing air into the small-block V8, and there are VMS racing wheels and stock style suspension up back.
Matt Lamphier’s car turns up pulling a small trailer with supplies and waits his turn before the race — unfortunately, the Belvedere which should be competing isn’t ready, so Matt will do a solo run.
The Mazda looks great with those wheels and the dark green paint, which always suits Miatas so well and lends an elegant English sports car vibe to the sports car despite the big wheels up back.
The Sexy Time Miata Is Quick On Its Feet At Byron Dragway
The video calls the car a Turbo Turtle, but the license plate up back uses the name Sexy Time — either way, the car looks great, and it’s good to see a small sports car on the strip.
There’s a quick burnout and the car’s ready — it makes less noise than some but shows intent with its induction piping sticking out of the hood and the parachute hints at the car’s speed potential.
At the green light the car makes a quick getaway and lifts at the front slightly, it’s a quick run down to the trap and the board at the end shows up the time as the parachute deploys.
It lives up to its name as an 8-second Mazda MX-5, crossing the 1/4-mile in 8:53 at 157 mph — the video comments at the end that the driver and his car go on to win the Super Street Small Block Power Adder Class, which must be a good thing.
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