Of all the cars in our Carnage fleet, the Barra-swapped MX-5 we call ‘Lightning McBarra’ has to be one of the biggest attention grabbers. Kids love the livery, and their parents often gawk at how tightly the monster Ford inline-six is shoehorned into the bay.

So when new Carnage sponsors VPW Australia asked us for a car to throw onto their stand at MotorEx in Melbourne this weekend (April 30 – May 1), the MX-5 was the easy choice. As part of that they also sent us a bunch of VPW-supplied Proflow gear to through onto the car, along with some super hot rear wheels.

The new rear wheels are Street Pro 15x10s, wrapped in some 275 drag radials. They look a hell of a lot classier than the old smooth steelies that’ve been on the MX-5 since it first debuted.

The engine bay was also given a refresh with some Proflow goodies. VPW supplied us with a nice black catch can and the necessary Push Lock hose and fittings to adapt it to the Barra rocker cover.

They also threw in a bracket for the front timing cover, which is the perfect way to keep the water and oil lines out of the way of the pulley system. Speaking of the lines, they also supplied a new oil feed line and filter for the turbo.

While Scotty was fiddling around in the bay he also opted to put a new spring in the TurboSmart 60mm external wastegate, as we reached the limit of the old 7psi spring in our last MX-5 episode when it was on the dyno at Maxx Performance.

With a new 10psi spring, we’re hoping that’ll get us over the final hump to see 600rwhp out of the SBE LPG Barra.

With that all done, Scotty gave the MX-5 a clean and it’s ready for show! So if you’re around Melbourne this weekend, make sure you head to MotorEx at the Melbourne Showgrounds and check out the MX-5 for yourself on the VPW Australia stand.