Ron,
Back about 20 years ago, there was a small company in Escondido, CA that
started to stuff a 400 HP supercharged Thunderbird engine into the Miata.
They called it a Monster Miata. I was hired to film three days with the car
for some beauty shots, a Photo shoot for a feature in Motor Trend, an
attempt at the LA County Drag way to break the 4 second 0 to 60 barrier
(which was big then) and then a track day at Willow Springs in a shoot out
between a Viper, a JBA prepped Mustang, a Saleen Mustang and the Monster
Miata.
This company, the name of the guy escapes me now, had some kind of a deal
with Ford (they used to make Cobra Rep cars) and they allowed him to go
diving in their parts bin and he came up with the 400 HP Thunderbird
engine/supercharger combo that was smog legal and would fit in the car. The
car was street legal also.
Bottom line, at the drags, on street tires (shaved) the turned 3.98 sec to
60, and at The Streets of Willow, It did well except for two things, the
short wheel base was rather squirrely and the pro driver said that he could
not use the full potential of the car with out crashing, and there was some
aerodynamic problem in front that they did not get full air flow to the rad
and at full chat on a very hot day it would boil over several times.
I think they only made one of them, tho there might have been a second one
under way when they folded.
Cheers,
Bob in SanDiego
Robert D. Gardner
Gardner Productions LLC
Film and Video Production since 1978
619-460-1000
www.gardnerproductions.com
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