42 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019
[ TURBO MK4 ]
I
t can take some of us six months just
to settle on what aftermarket wheels
we want on our MX-5. And even then
there can be a moment of angst once
we’ve pressed the ‘buy’ button,
wondering if that really was the best
choice. So imagine the stress involved in
preparing a show-ready car, from
scratch, in just three weeks. Especially
when the show in question is the world
renowned SEMA, held annually amongst
the glitter and glitz of Las Vegas.
For those of you who don’t know, SEMA
(for Specialty Equipment Market
Association) is a Very Big Deal on the US
modifying and tuning scene. It’s where
the wildest, fastest, most outrageous
modified cars are paraded beneath the
spotlights and the harsh desert sun to
show off the talents of those involved in
creating them. Such is the popularity of
the SEMA show these days that even the
mainstream car makers want a piece of
the action, and Mazda North America has
on occasions used the event to showcase
some very non-standard (and hugely
desirable) MX-5s.
And it was onto this well illuminated
and critically inspected stage that 41-
year old Tommy Babiarz agreed his
recently purchased 2016 mk4 MX-5
could be displayed. With some serious
modifications, of course. Which wouldhave to be completed within 21 days to
hit the deadline for attending SEMA. And
to add to the fun, at this point in time
very few tuning companies had gotten
round to producing parts for the mk4.
You may remember that earlier we
mentioned stress...
‘Luckily, I’ve got some really cool
friends in high places who helped out,’
laughs Tommy. When he says high
places, Tommy means it: he has the likes
of (Japanese tuning specialist) TRA-
Kyoto’s boss, Kei Miura, Kiwi drift legend
‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett and serial SEMA
builder Jonny Grunwald, on speed dial.
‘Jonny and I work together on the same
Formula Drift Japan team with Mad Mike,
representing Team Magic,’ Tommy
explains. ‘We first met when I was hired
to interview Jonny about his now famous
TCP Magic RX-7. It’s wild to think that a
few years later we’d be travelling the
world together as friends, working on
the same team, and have the opportunity
to build a car together.’
Seeing as both of Tommy’s buddies are
die-hard rotorheads, known for their fire-
breathing RX-7s and other wild
Wankel-based machinery, it might seem
strange that Orlando-based Mazda nut,
Tommy, has gone down the piston-
engined route with his car.
‘I was working with Mad Mike and hisMX-5-based drift car RADBUL,’ explains
Tommy. ‘Based on a mk3 but equipped
with a PPRE-built, twin-turbo, quad-rotor
26B motor making over 1000bhp, it’s got
to be the ultimate MX-5. Backed by
Mazda, you’d be surprised how many
parts of the crazy engine are actually
OEM items, albeit often modified for the
job. So when the fourth generation MX-5
was launched in 2016, Mike converted
the car to run the latest body panels,
effectively turning it into a mk4 version,
to keep it looking fresh and show the
world what could be done with these
cool little cars.’
It was while working with Mad Mike
that the seed was sown for Tommy to
jump on the mk4 MX-5 bandwagon. But if
the Red Bull-sponsored driver was the
one responsible for planting it, Mazda’s
own Nobuhiro Yamamoto was the one
who nurtured it to blossom.
‘Mike took me on a trip to the Mazda
factory in Hiroshima and I got to speak
with Yamamoto-san, who has been the
programme manager for the MX-5
throughout its whole lifespan,’ Tommy
recalls. ‘He has been responsible for
overseeing every generation of the car
since the mk1 and he showed me around
the fourth-generation car. This was a
great honour, and after he’d explained to
me how his vision for the mk4 was to