On this episode of Ignition
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:03 This car is nothing new.
00:12 The Super 20 was built a few years ago
00:14 to commemorate 20 years of the Miata.
00:16 It's appeared at numerous car shows,
00:18 but unlike most beauty queens, this thing actually works.
00:22 This is Mazda, after all, who has big ties to motorsports,
00:25 specifically because of the Miata.
00:28 This week on "Ignition," we're driving the Super 20
00:30 because it appears to be the perfect extension of the things
00:33 that make the Miata so much fun.
00:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:56 The Super 20's face looks like something out of an anime,
00:59 lower and wider thanks to those fender flares.
01:02 And its fog lights sort of look like fangs.
01:05 New suspension components are matched to 16-inch wheels
01:08 wrapped in R-Compound rubber.
01:10 Just look at that sidewall.
01:12 Underneath the hood is an engine built by Cosworth
01:15 to withstand boosts sent from a flying Miata supercharger kit.
01:18 And on top is a very bright roll bar.
01:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:24 Acceleration may not be the whole point of the Super 20,
01:32 but it's pretty good at it because we
01:34 have very sticky tires.
01:35 That means we can do a big clutch dump
01:37 to get it out of the hole.
01:38 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:41 Short gearing means you have to shift quite a bit,
01:49 but you'll hit 60 in 5.2 seconds.
01:52 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:55 And you'll go through pretty much all the gears to get there.
01:59 And the quarter mile arrives in 13.7 seconds
02:02 at 100.9 miles an hour.
02:04 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:07 For our 60 to 0 braking test, it took the Miata
02:17 99 feet to stop from 60.
02:19 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:22 For the figure 8 part of the Super 20 test,
02:26 we're going to take the top off, or we already
02:28 have taken the top off, because Miata, it's what you do.
02:33 The tires on this thing are wonderful.
02:35 There is so much grip.
02:36 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:39 And they just help add to the confidence in the chassis.
02:42 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:46 Your turn in speed is fabulous.
02:50 And you can just dance the car right on the limits
02:55 of the tire's adhesion.
02:58 I think I'm still entering this corner a little bit too slow.
03:01 But--
03:01 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:04 Now, you can still have that kind of balance
03:09 and do big slides like that, even
03:11 with the grip of these tires.
03:12 But you can still do a lot of things
03:14 like that, even with the grip of these tires,
03:17 is very impressive.
03:19 They transition to a slide very easily and very controllably.
03:25 And the added torque means you don't
03:27 have to shift on our handling course, which
03:29 will help this car's lap time.
03:31 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:34 The braking performance, again, because of these tires
03:37 is phenomenal.
03:39 And the speed you can carry is just excellent.
03:42 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:44 [LAUGHS]
03:47 I love this car.
03:48 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:52 Now, as the Super 20 is a car built for a car show,
04:02 there are a number of cosmetic upgrades.
04:04 That's why this roll cage or roll bar behind us is orange.
04:08 That's why the interior looks a little bit different.
04:10 But honestly, we don't care about that.
04:12 We care about how it drives.
04:15 And in a word, I'd have to describe it as wonderful.
04:18 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:21 I always try to compare cars to music, being a big music nerd.
04:27 And I've come to it with this.
04:29 There are some cars that go down the road in a very
04:31 dissonant fashion, like the Evolution, like the GT-R.
04:35 They're just in your face.
04:36 They're kind of like punk rock in that regard.
04:39 And then there's cars that go down the road
04:41 with a certain harmony and melody, like the Cayman
04:45 and like the Miata in general.
04:47 And this Super 20 just further exemplifies
04:51 the traits of that harmony.
04:53 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:56 It's a wonderful, wonderful driving car.
05:02 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:07 This car is not built for production.
05:09 It's not slated to be sold.
05:12 It's made to be an example of what you can do with a Miata.
05:15 And that's an interesting thing, because whenever
05:18 I drive this car, I always come back to the same thought.
05:21 And that is, if I had a Miata, it'd probably
05:23 end up very similar to this, maybe
05:26 without that exhaust noise.
05:29 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:32 But the rest of the car, the fundamentals of this car
05:36 are very nice.
05:37 And the upgrades that they've given to this car only
05:39 strengthen the fundamentals of it.
05:41 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:43 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:46 We have a supercharger on a built engine, not one that has
05:49 any difference in displacement, but just a couple things
05:51 change to, I guess, enhance durability.
05:54 But the beautiful thing about superchargers
05:56 is they aren't built to be sold.
05:58 They're built to be sold.
05:59 But the beautiful thing about superchargers
06:02 is they aren't in your face, like some of the crazy turbos
06:04 are.
06:05 You don't hear whine.
06:07 You don't get a sense that there's
06:08 any extra power being added.
06:10 It just feels like you have a bigger engine
06:12 without many of the downsides of having a bigger engine.
06:15 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:19 And we're not working with a lot of horsepower, 225,
06:22 250 horsepower is about what this is making.
06:25 And that may seem laughable on paper.
06:27 But then you realize it's in a car that
06:29 weighs 2,600 pounds around there.
06:32 And that makes for a very enjoyable driving experience.
06:35 The power doesn't overwhelm the chassis.
06:37 But it is enough to give you very good acceleration.
06:40 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:47 The gearing is also ridiculously short.
06:50 I'm spending most of the time driving on this road in fifth,
06:53 whereas in most high power, high torque cars,
06:56 you're in third or fourth gear.
06:58 But fortunately, the shifter, the clutch,
07:01 works so beautifully.
07:03 The tack only seems to drop a handful of revs on each shift.
07:08 And you can shift so fast, it almost
07:11 sounds like you're driving a sequential gearbox.
07:13 [ENGINE REVVING]
07:17 Now, much of this car's performance
07:19 we can attribute to these tires, which
07:21 are very big and very sticky.
07:23 I love the amount of sidewall you have on these tires.
07:26 But they are for competition use only.
07:29 Sure, they have tread blocks and whatnot.
07:31 But if you go to Tire Racks' website
07:33 and look at the second sentence, it
07:35 says, "These tires are not appropriate for highway use."
07:38 That said, the level of grip that they give to this car
07:41 is simply insane.
07:44 You can wring this car around its neck through every corner.
07:47 You can charge into corners way faster
07:50 than you have any right to.
07:52 But when you back off from the limit performance,
07:55 when you drive at a comfortable pace,
07:57 this car is still extremely enjoyable.
07:59 Because it has, again, those fundamentals
08:02 of a good driving car--
08:03 low weight, good chassis balance,
08:05 communicative steering, pedals.
08:08 It's a beautiful, beautiful driving car.
08:11 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:18 The Super 20 simply is a delightful car.
08:21 The parts Mazda has added amplify the joy
08:24 you get from sitting behind the wheel.
08:25 And they do so without diminishing
08:27 the rest of the car.
08:28 You can easily justify what little drivability sacrifices
08:32 exist by considering the hilarious performance
08:34 and driving experience.
08:36 It's these qualities that make us
08:38 hopeful that Mazda might build something
08:40 like this in the future.
08:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:51 That sounds great.
08:53 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:00 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:07 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:18 (upbeat music)