{"id":20741,"date":"2017-06-27T15:40:19","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T19:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=20741"},"modified":"2017-06-27T15:40:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T19:40:19","slug":"payne-at-speed-in-wee-mazda-miata-cup-racer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/payne-at-speed-in-wee-mazda-miata-cup-racer","title":{"rendered":"Payne: At speed in (wee) Mazda Miata Cup racer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cup_rr\"<\/p>\n<\/div>

Fielding an IndyCar for the season costs about $6 million. If that sounds too rich, Mazda has a deal for you.<\/p>\n

For $58,900 you can go racing in a race-prepared Mazda MX-5 Miata Cup car.<\/p>\n

The Cup car is based on Mazda\u2019s adorable little $25,790 MX-5 Miata production sports car<\/a>, now in its fourth generation. Since its inception in 1989, the Miata has anchored Mazda\u2019s sporty brand, sold more than a million cars and introduced thousands of motorheads young and old to motorsports.<\/p>\n

With the more expensive Cup toy, Mazda is most interested in that latter stat as it sucks new recruits into the racing wars. Master the entry-level MX-5 Cup series and Mazda will give you a seat in a Formula F2000 car. Continued success will take you further up the racing ladder to Indy Lights Mazda racer where graduates go on to pro racing jobs like driving Mazdas\u2019a RT24-P Daytona Prototype that carved up Belle Isle this June.<\/p>\n

Or you can keep your day job and be a weekend Miata jockey in some of the most entertaining racing on the planet.<\/p>\n

Your entree is a stripped MX-5 modified for racing by Long Road Racing. The North Carolina race shop takes a fresh Miata<\/a>, filets it, strips it of all interior comforts and sound-deadening materials \u2014 then bolts in a roll cage and racing seats. Add racing slicks and shocks, bake in 15 more horsepower from engine tuning and \u2014 voila!<\/i> \u2014 Cup racer.<\/p>\n

The production Miata is already the tightest squeeze of any production car on the market. The Cup model was doubly tight for your 6-foot-5 scribe. Screw me in and before I even turn the key I\u2019m stuffing the easy-stow ragtop in the boot. Otherwise, my head is in the roof.<\/p>\n

The Cup car may have jettisoned the soft top, but in its place is a full roll cage that could keep great white sharks at bay. I enter through a small side cage opening that is then immediately sewn up with a window net.<\/p>\n

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