Straight4 has announced more content for its upcoming title, Project Motor Racing. We saw many new cars last week. Now it is time to develop some information about each of them.
Enter what many believe is the apotheosis (yikes) of spec racing bliss: the 2017 Global MX-5 (ND1), a showroom MX-5 built in Hiroshima and converted by Long Road Racing into a sealed, single-spec racer.
Same heart, tighter purpose.
Engines, diffs and gearboxes are sealed. The goal here is parity, not parts-chasing.
The challenge is skill, not wallet opening.
Fun—But Learn Your Lines
Under the hood sits Mazda’s SKYACTIV-G 2.0L driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual. Damped by Multimatic DSSV and featuring a race-style digital dash, it’s a race car without drama. Minimum weight is 1,095 kgs (with driver, no fuel) and bhp is around 150, which keeps the power-to-weight honest and the racing even more honest.
So What’s Spec?
Sealed powertrain & ECU for starters: this tech-protected parity means the best prep is a driver. And excuses for losing are not too abundant!
Multimatic DSSV dampers: Repeatable, click-clean adjustments. Set the platform and go.
It’s Affordable
Mazda sold the turn-key car for about $58,900 in 2017—factory-authorized, built to one spec, shipped ready to strap in. It’s the definition of “maximum seat time per dollar” which is why the paddock fills with rookies, pros, and club heroes, all using the Mazda MX5 as a pace benchmark.
How Fast Is It?
Like all rookie-entry platforms, the MX5 is all about momentum. Brake in a straight line, breathe once for rotation, then carry speed and hit the exits. The slipstream matters too—and so does racecraft. On any given lap you’ll swap three positions and still be in the same six-car train, because the platform’s stable on the brakes, friendly over curbs, and doesn’t have a lot of deep grunt.
No gobs of power also means no one but the very elite aliens will be cutting away from the chasing pack, and last lap shenanigans is all but guaranteed.
Sweet Spots & Sweet Delights
The MX-5 Spec car hits that sweet spot between accessibility and fun. It’s robust enough to run all season, sensitive enough to teach you what a click of rebound actually does to your handling and you’ll get to know everything you ever needed about racecraft. Both defensive and aggressive.
The 2017 MX-5 is spec racing done right—sealed, durable, and tuned for momentum. It turns laps (and drivers) faster by making the stopwatch a referendum on you, not your parts catalogue.
And all it really takes to be competitive is a firm understanding of the track you’re racing on. It doesn’t get better than a 10-car pack dicing on the last lap at Lime Rock Park. Just don’t lose it in the pack: the results can be painful!
Discuss this news item in our forum or in Discord.
You can buy them with a discount by clicking here:
- Project Motor Racing
- Project Motor Racing Year 1 Bundle
- Project Motor Racing Group 5 Revival Pack
- Project Motor Racing GTE Decade Pack
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