Mazda’s Race-Ready MX-5 Cup Car Looks Just About Perfect

The world’s most-raced car has come to terms with itself.

Proving that sometimes the best innovations are made in-house, Mazda showed up to the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association’s aftermarket parts and conversions show—perhaps the least glamorous even on the trade show circuit—with a tuned racing version of its iconic MX–5 roadster. Damn, does it look good.

As Mazda often points out without prompting, the MX-5 Miata is both the best selling roadster in history and the most raced car in the world. That makes a lot of sense: Even the standard cars, with basic engines and road tires, are superb handlers. Looking to capitalize on the fact that its clients like to compete, Mazda decided to create a standardized series, the MX-5 Cup Racer, it could sell “ready to race.”

While specifics (suspension tuning, tire compounds, roll-cage size) are still being sorted, Mazda says this car is an accurate visual representation of what’s to come. We love the blacked-out BBS wheels and the matte-finish splitter, as well as the aggressive white hood graphics that match the character of the MX-5’s mean new face. As for the interior, there’s no car that can’t be improved with a carbon-fiber Momo wheel.

Consider this car a retort to the oafs who think the MX-5 is anything less than a feisty reincarnation of the post-war Triumphs and MG’s your father’s friends spent their youth wrapping around trees. The MX-5 was the coolest thing at the conversion show and it’s going to make a lot of converts.   

Photos by Mazda USA