This has been the main project of 2009-2010. Being different was the only original spec, and I can safely say it is pretty different! I decided on the mx5 as a donor as it handles extremely well being small, light, double wishbone suspension and disc brakes all round, all tied into a very rigid chassis, and the convertible aspect is a bonus as it isn't exactly an ideal winter car anyway!

The build saw the car taken back to an almost bare shell, the rear subframe was removed and modified to house a Cosworth limited slip diff and drive shafts before being re-fitted, the front subframe actually needed only minimal work to fit around the Rover V8 which was a suprise, and gearbox mounts were fabricated to tie into the tunnel. Fabricating the exhaust manifolds, pipework and wiring was all done afterwards and caused no major problems (but a few headaches!)

Now on the road, "Mad Mx" causes a stir where ever it goes and is incredibly fun to drive, bar the lack of visibility on some corners! With plenty of power it pulls like a train from low revs and has been taken to 7000rpm on a rolling road, where it put out 368bhp and 278ftlbs torque, over 3 times the original power of the car! Weighing in at 1tonne it easily out does many new performance cars, the new BMW M3 makes 250bhp per tonne for example.

Due for a feature in Fast Car magazine (coming out September) so keep your eyes out.

Specification:

Engine: Late X-bolted 94mm block with polished valley & oiling mods, ported 36cc heads with composite gaskets, TVR type front cover & oil pump, SD1 sump & oil pick-up (modified), blower cam, Rhodes high-rev anti pump lifters, HD pushrods, Crane double valve springs & retainers, aluminium rockers, Duplex timing chain, electric crank case vacuum pump & custom catch can

Inlet manifold: Offenhauser 360 degree single plane modified, 25mm blower adapter plate, twin backfire relief valves

Blower: Original GMC 4-71 blower fully rebuilt, custom drive snout, custom tensioner, custom pulleys, custom carb adapter plate, Hilborn bug catcher, K&N filters

Ignition: Rover Distributor, MSD Boost Timing Master, Accel high performance coil, 8mm HT leads, NGK spark plugs

Cooling: Full width, 2" thick aluminium race products radiator, Samco silicone hoses, custom made aluminium header tank, Stant cap

Fuel system: Holley 97gph electronic pump, 1/2" aluminium hard line, Syntec alloy fuel filter, Holley pressure regulator, earls annodised fittings, Edelbrock/Weber 500cfm 4bbl carb

Exhaust: Custom made 1 5/8" tubular manifolds, 2" secondaries, 2 1/2" X-pipe, 2 1/2" straight through system to twin turbo mufflers and 3" stainless tails.

Clutch/Flywheel: Lightened flywheel, AP Racing twin plate 7 1/4" clutch

Transmission: Late Rover SD1 gearbox & shifter, custom made propshaft

Rear axle: Sierra Cosworth 3.64 LSD, Cosworth drive shafts, modified stub axles, original mx5 rear subframe modified to carry the above.