Long before the Toybaru BR86 came along and took all the kudos for producing a no-frills, no-fuss rear-wheel drive fun drive, there was a two-seater roadster called the Mazda MX-5. It wasn’t the fastest sports car in the world, nor was it the most sophisticated due to its transversely mounted four-cylinder having to send power to the rear wheels, as opposed to the front wheels as the engine was originally built to do; nevertheless, the Mazda MX-5 does have its fans. Now a faster, more-hard-core Mazda MX-5 GT version is available through its official racing partner, Jota.
Shown in ‘Concept’ form (pictured here) although we think of it more as a tuner effort, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year, Jota and Mazda thought, to hell with it, and decided they’ll build them for keen customers. The deal is you buy your Mazda MX-5 in the U.K. and then take it to Jota who will do all the necessary modifications to make it a GT.
The reason for this is homologating the Mazda MX-5 GT for the road would take too long. Aside from the bodykit, reworked suspension and black wheels, Jota tweaks the MX-5’s ECU and fits a sports exhaust so power from the normally-aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, increasing the modest 118 kW power output of the regular MX-5.
The standard Mazda MX-5 costs from £18 495 (R295 000 in a direct currency conversion) in the U.K. and it appears the Jota Mazda MX-5 GT will be priced closet to £30 000 (R475 000) which seems like a lot for a mod job. The production Mazda is courtesy of Le Mans specialists, Jota Sport, who work closely with Mazda’s U.K. racing concerns.
The Jota Mazda MX-5 GT Roadster when tuned will develop 150 kW, which will enable it to accelerate from 100 km/h in 6.5 seconds, some 1.5 seconds faster than the standard version – while the top speed 225 km/h. As a caveat to the added uumph, the Mazda MX-5 GT gains a cool looking carbon fibre rear diffuser, Bilstein dampers and leather Recaro seats and optional carbon fibre front splitter and/or rear spoiler.
