Track test and review: ND-chassis Mazda MX-5 Cup C...

Native Boys Made Good

All present MX-5 Cup vehicles come out of the garages of Flis Performance in Daytona Seashore, Florida. If that identify sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of the Flis household has been a fixture of the Central Florida racing scene for many years. The Flises have been native to our workplaces, so we’ve identified them since they have been autocrossing and racing Volkswagen Rabbits in SCCA Improved Touring competitors again within the ’80s. 

Brothers Todd and Troy Flis parlayed that success in beginner racing into professional careers as automotive preparers, even making appearances on the Rolex 24 with street-based Mitsubishi Eclipses of their early days. They saved progressing via the GT ranks, finally fielding Daytona Prototypes beneath their Spirit of Daytona group. Most lately, they partnered with Mazda as stewards of lots of the model’s historic race vehicles and because the official constructors of the MX-5 Cup vehicles.

Every MX-5 Cup automotive begins not as a naked tub however as a whole operating, driving Miata. Upon arriving at Flis Efficiency, the vehicles are completely disassembled after which rebuilt to race specs. Images Credit score: Chris Tropea

Removed from being Miatas with a couple of bolt-ons, the Cup vehicles are absolutely realized racing machines with minimal upkeep necessities. They’re designed to endure the trials of a number of weekends of doorhandle-to-doorhandle–generally doorhandle-to-windshield and even mirror-to-bumper–racing. Every Cup automotive is delivered to Flis Efficiency as a whole, inventory car, however they’re rapidly stripped to reveal shells in preparation for his or her transformation. (Take a look at Flis Efficiency’s web site for a couple of alternative MX-5 takeoff elements, too.) 

The primary chassis addition is a laser-cut, FIA-approved roll cage that ties into the ground and sprint help at eight factors and is functionally symmetrical, that means it may be put in in right-hand-drive variations as properly. The cage is roomy inside for taller or wider–or each–drivers, with straightforward ingress and egress, even with the head-restraint Max Papis Improvements seat in place.

Images Credit score: Chris Tropea

Suspension is through Multimatic’s Dynamic DSSV coil-overs with rebound and compression adjustment. A bespoke adjustable entrance anti-roll bar designed to Flis’ specs enhances the inventory rear bar, and Brembo entrance calipers squeeze Pagid pads onto Brembo rotors. Within the rear, the inventory brake setup is retained, however the Pagid pads increase the system.

Images Credit score: Chris Tropea

Beneath the hood, the two.0-liter Skyactiv-G engine is inventory, sealed towards tampering and, in keeping with Flis Efficiency, good for a number of seasons in lots of instances. A C&R radiator and Setrab oil cooler assist with engine longevity and race day cooling; testifying to their effectiveness, we noticed cooler temps on observe than we did idling within the pits. 

The most important change to the drivetrain is the Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox that connects the engine with the sealed limited-slip rear finish. Mandated for the touring MX-5 Cup professional sequence (the usual six-speed guide is obtainable as a lower-cost choice for customized MX-5 Cup automotive builds), the Sadev replaces one of many few weak factors within the MX-5 drivetrain with a bulletproof, raceworthy choice. 

Images Credit score: Chris Tropea

Extra race prep contains stripping out the engine management harness and ECU and changing it with a sealed Bosch Motorsport setup. The physique harness is pared down the place relevant however principally stays intact, save for the spots the place it integrates with the ECU.

Really Trackworthy

So what’s the results of all this reconstruction? Properly, as we alluded to earlier than, it’s a race automotive that feels completely hardwired into your nervous system. “It actually feels extra like a bit GT automotive than a transformed road automotive,” Todd Flis instructed us even earlier than we loaded the store’s demo automotive into the trailer. “You get a terrific sense of what the tires are doing and it feels tremendous direct.”

That was all a little bit of an understatement: The suggestions of the MX-5 Cup is available in such excessive decision that you just really feel like your fingertips are touching the contact patches themselves. 

Backing up, your complete expertise feels properly curated and thoughtfully designed. Miatas aren’t the largest vehicles to start with, so stuffing them with an FIA-spec roll cage, a race seat and security gear tends to make even these open-top sports activities vehicles a bit claustrophobic. Designing a cage that permits for cheap ingress and egress whereas nonetheless offering top-notch security is hard, however the Cup automotive nails it right here. Even with the cosy Max Papis Improvements seat (and matching Alcantara steering wheel, in fact), the MX-5 Cup feels prefer it has extra elbowroom than a inventory Miata. Sliding out and in of the halo seat via the cage is straightforward, and even sightlines are largely unobstructed. 

Add in that you just’re basically a inventory Miata sprint, and the sensation is all very acquainted. Even the mandated exhaust is pretty quiet, and there’s virtually none of that typical “race automotive” NVH coming via the chassis. It’s very Miata-like. 

Till you drop the Sadev sequential into first by yanking again on the stick, that’s.

Our preliminary laps within the MX-5 Cup automotive confirmed why the racing is so shut: It’s easy to drive and desirous to please. These attributes would translate properly to lapping days as properly. Images Credit score: David S. Wallens

If we have now a criticism of the automotive, it facilities across the gearbox. Not that it’s unhealthy, thoughts you, simply that it’s not absolutely in character with the remainder of the automotive. The responsive chassis of the Cup automotive loves a light-weight contact–the wheel is finest gripped along with your fingertips, and the brakes are finest utilized with a single toe, perhaps two when you’re pushing the braking markers. However that shifter works finest if you pull it such as you’re making an attempt to begin a weed whacker that sat all winter.

Todd Flis warned us on the best way out the door: “It needs a heck of a tug.” And he was not flawed. 

Going too gently delays the shift longer than the momentary ignition lower that permits flat-foot shifting, so it doesn’t all the time snap the subsequent gear into place with sufficient authority. The distinction between executing delicate, mild work on the wheel and pedals and YANKING THE SHIFTER LIKE IT OWES YOU MONEY at every gear change takes some getting used to. When you come to phrases with it, although, you’re rewarded with a slick gearbox whose shifts are virtually imperceptible on the info.

Likewise, downshifts take a agency slap and the correct timing to correctly execute. A mild blip of the throttle helps the downshift slide into place, however like the opposite non-shifter controls, the throttle is mild, and overblipping will simply stall the engagement. Inside a couple of laps, although, that mild contact on the gasoline ends in a silky, if agency, engagement of the decrease gear.

The sequential field isn’t simply vital for its ruggedness and enjoyable, although. It additionally permits left-foot braking, actually letting you make the most of the responsive chassis. (Though perennial sequence front-runner Selin Rollan tells us he’s a devoted right-foot braker, so it’s clearly not a necessity.) 

And “responsive” isn’t actually even the correct phrase right here, as a result of the chassis sharpness is essentially the most notable function of the MX-5 Cup. That mild contact is rewarded with such high-resolution suggestions that the automotive is virtually intuitive. 

We sampled the Cup automotive on a fairly well-used set of BFGoodrich tires (for the 2024 season, the sequence moved to Michelin slicks), and even with less-than-ideal rubber, we might nonetheless micromanage the contact patch of every tire with any of the controls. We might again it right into a nook like a mud bike with some late, heavy braking, or toss-and-catch with the wheel, or simply flip in like a standard particular person and use throttle to progressively construct load. 

When the tires began to interrupt away, the fronts tended to go first, however we’re speaking about fractions of a level right here. The Cup automotive is way extra impartial than it’s an understeerer. About the one cornering situation not out there is true power-on oversteer, as with solely 181 horsepower on faucet, the tires and chassis are greater than able to overwhelming the facility. Actually, one of many keys to going quick within the Cup automotive appears to be utilizing solely 100% of that grip, as you merely don’t have the facility to beat errors and the lack of momentum must you go to 101%. All that friction simply begins slowing you down.

As a consequence of these traits, we fully perceive why the expertise stage within the MX-5 Cup sequence is so excessive. Drivers that excel on this sequence want an unbelievable contact behind the wheel. You’re not going to get it accomplished on pure aggression, racecraft or seat-of-the-pants ability in a automotive like this. 

This chassis is working at such a excessive diploma of decision that solely the drivers who can really hear these wonderful notes method on the finish of the vary are going to return out on high. It’s a automotive you’ll have the ability to drive comfortably and safely anyplace from 98% to 102%, merely due to its benign and predictable nature. However you’re not going to be anyplace towards the entrance of the sphere except you’re working at 99.7% to 100.3%. 

What’s the Information Say?

The VBox knowledge exhibits that the MX-5 Cup automotive is getting it accomplished virtually completely with tenacious grip and razor-sharp reflexes. On our check course on the FIRM, it turned a 1:19.72, doubtless leaving no less than a pair tenths on the desk as a consequence of the truth that we have been driving a longtime pal’s $100,000 race automotive. Nonetheless, that quantity places it within the firm of OEM sports activities vehicles with double–or extra–the facility.

We lined up the info with the hint from the 2020 Toyota GR Supra, which was a close to lifeless warmth on the clock with the MX-5 Cup automotive at 1:19.59. It couldn’t have been clearer how a lot the Mazda was counting on dealing with to shut the hole. 

Whereas the Supra would rocket out of corners, simply placing a ten mph benefit on the MX-5 inside 300 toes of a gradual exit, the MX-5 Cup automotive would simply proceed at full throttle properly after the Supra had hit the brakes. The Cup automotive went as a lot as 50 meters deeper into corners earlier than leaping on the binders, at which level the pace hint dropped like a cat pushed it off a countertop.

Cornering, likewise, was dramatically completely different. The MX-5 Cup automotive barely slows for the FIRM’s left-hand Flip 4 kink, whereas the Supra wants appreciable braking to barter that flip a full 10 mph slower. General, the MX-5 Cup automotive has the crisp pace hint of a real race automotive, whereas the Supra has some thrust however lacks the general refinement that separates a extremely succesful road machine from a real competitors software.

Do You Need One?

Properly, yeah. Though not blessed with gaudy energy, the MX-5 Cup automotive has absolute surgical dealing with that makes you are feeling like a hero, even when you understand you aren’t nearly as good because the 19-year-old child operating within the high 5 within the professional sequence–presently referred to as IMSA’s Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup offered by Michelin.

With a price ticket proper at $100,000, although, it’s not an inexpensive date, no less than on the buy-in. However assume a bit about what you get for the cash. It’s mainly a hand-built, bespoke race automotive that’s extraordinarily properly balanced, so it’s straightforward on consumables, with a professional sequence that produces among the many finest racing anyplace and options greater than 1,000,000 bucks in payout and scholarships. 

This combo signifies that used MX-5 Cup vehicles maintain their worth extraordinarily properly, and Todd Flis reviews depreciation of perhaps solely 15-20% for used vehicles that may be simply up to date to present sequence specs. Checked out via that lens, it might not be a low-priced race automotive, however it’s a stable funding of a race automotive, and that’s much more than you’ll be able to say about plenty of different vehicles in that area.

Along with benign manners and straightforward consumables, the MX-5 Cup additionally presents greater than 1,000,000 {dollars} in prize cash and scholarships. Images Credit score: David S. Wallens

Plus, sturdiness is excessive, and consumables put on at a average tempo. Flis reviews that between-race upkeep ceaselessly quantities to little greater than contemporary fluids and nut-and-bolt checks, as even put on objects like brake pads can final via a pair weekends. 

Be able to restore some rub injury although, because the racing is so shut as to defy the legal guidelines of physics about two objects occupying the identical area. Essentially the most requested half from the trackside spares cache? Arms down, he says, it’s the Mazda emblem on the nostril of the automotive. “The sequence requires them to be in place,” he says, “and it looks as if these guys knock them off earlier than they even depart the grid generally.”