MX-5 Miata

Make
Mazda
Segment
Compact

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is one of the most popular rear-wheel drive sports cars on the market, and for good reason. It's not the most powerful sports car you can buy, but it's lightweight, fun to drive, and, with a starting price of just $26,580, very affordable. Its cheap entry price also makes it a popular choice for custom car builders.

With a few modifications, it's possible to make the MX-5 Miata more powerful and more exciting to drive. You may remember when someone installed Koenigsegg's camless engine tech in their Miata.

As standard, the Miata's 2.0-liter four-pot produces 181 hp and 151 lb-ft of torque, but Kostas Sidiras from YouTube channel One Lap Heroes has swapped it with a 3.6-liter V6 LFX engine from a Chevrolet Camaro that produces 320 hp - nearly double the output of a stock Miata. The modified Miata has also been upgraded with a mean-looking bodykit, a fixed rear wing, flared fenders, and wider tires.

To see what the custom Miata could do, Sidiras took it to the Nurburgring and recorded the lap time. Impressively, the custom Miata ripped around the Nurburgring in just seven minutes and 33.8 seconds, putting it in the same territory as the Lexus LFA and Pagani Zonda F.

However, it's worth noting that this was not a full Nurburgring lap but a "bridge to the gantry" lap that doesn't include the section between the last gantry and the first bridge during tourist sessions. Even so, One Lap Heroes is confident that this is the fastest Nurburgring lap time ever set by a Mazda MX-5 Miata so it's likely to be a new record, beating the previous record time set by an NC MX-5 that lapped the Green Hell in seven minutes and 37.3 seconds.

The driver claims they were a little "rusty" behind the wheel and the project isn't complete yet meaning the custom Miata could potentially set an even faster Nurburgring lap time, so watch this space.