Mazda MX-5 GT: A rather warm MX-5

The track only Mazda MX-5 GT

Back at Frankfurt in 2009, Mazda revealed an MX-5 which had been put on a serious diet – the Mazda MX-5 Superlight – but which was sadly just a concept.

And now we get a super-light MX5 that isn’t a concept but also can’t be bought for the road because it’s a track car – the Mazda MX-5 GT. MX-5 lovers the world over weep.

The MX-5 GT has been built to race in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship this year, and Mazda say it has examined every last detail of the standard car to see where weight can be saved, and have ended up with an MX-5 weighing in at just 850kg thanks to stuff like polycarbonate ‘glass’ and carbon fibre doors.

The weight loss alone should make the already nimble MX-5 a bit livelier, but the 2.0 litre Mazda lump has been tuned to deliver an extra 117bhp – 275bhp instead of the normal 158bhp.

All that extra power means the MX-5 GT will sprint to 60mph in a measly 3.0 seconds and on to 160mph. All of which will be put to good use this weekend when it competes at Silverstone in the Britcar Championship for the first time.

And with its Spirited Green metallic paint job it’s going to be quite hard to miss.

By Cars UK