Video: Anti-roll bar and weight reduction for the Barra MX-5

Weight reduction, more power and hard launches are the name of the game in this instalment of Carnage

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Videographers: Matt Hull


Scotty’s hell-bent on running 8s in our Barra-powered Mazda MX-5, so it’s time for some fresh go-fast parts, weight reduction, and more power before today’s Maxx Performance private track day!

First up was a tasty anti-roll bar from Enemies Racing Australia, replete with gorgeous CNC parts machined right here in Australia. It’ll be a great way to help get the car launching nice and straight, instead of the crazy wheel-lifting twist we saw at Summernats Slam.

Bubba and the boys at BSC Performance installed the kit, just in time to go racing today with the Maxx Performance team at Heathcote Park Raceway.

Aside from the bar, reducing weight and adding horsepower are ever-reliable methods to getting quicker, so Scotty yanked the 13.8kg passenger seat.

Next came the door trims, side glass and power window mechanisms, plus a bucketful of leaf litter and other random detritus. All in all, it was another 11.4kg from the car’s total weight.

Following up with the head unit and chunky airbags, another 7.5kg of heft was gone. But that wasn’t enough for Scotty, so he got his contortionist act on to unbolt the dashboard and pull the heater core, itself necessitating the removal of the windscreen.

We are sad that the tape player is gone, though! RIP little one, we’ll miss pounding out Roxette’s Greatest Hits through you.

Adding the trims, ducting and heater core to the total, 39.9kg of useless weight was now gone. As a general rule, that’s equal to about a one-tenth ET reduction over the quarter-mile.

Replacing the 10lb Turbosmart wastegate spring with a 14lb unit (well, two 7lb springs nested together) put more boost on offer. A dyno session at Maxx was next, though with the extra boost, the car ran out of injector almost immediately. That meant we had to go back to the 10lb spring for today’s trip to Heathcote.

On the upside, it is ace to be racing both the MX-5 and Trolvo today, so stay tuned for some potential PBs soon!

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