20-02-2025
2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club at Lightning Lap 2025
From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver.
Class: LL1 | Base: $38,470 | As Tested: $39,065 Power and Weight: 181 hp • 2350 lb • 13.0 lb/hp Tires: Bridgestone Potenza S001; 205/45R-17 84W
When a Mazda Miata comes to Lightning Lap, it's always a David among Goliaths. This year, two cars in the competition each produce over 1000 horsepower. This MX-5 Miata Club? It has 181 adorable little ponies. And talk about a lightweight. The 5443-pound Bentley Continental GT Speed carries more than the Miata's total weight across its front axle. Yet, with every visit to VIR, this Corgi of cars becomes a bit quicker.
We gained nearly a second on the 2019 Miata RF between the top of the Climbing Esses and the exit of Oak Tree onto the Back Straight. Newfound stability on the long downhill off-camber menace known as South Bend allowed us to turn in at 4.7 mph faster than before.
Much of that stability is due to the Club's new limited-slip differential (also on the Grand Touring manual). It increases the amount of lock under braking, helping to keep the rear end stable and secure. It's now easier to get the most out of the brakes when you stand on them at 116.7 mph barreling into Turn 1 and at 109.8 mph on the Back Straight. The retuned steering rack increases sensitivity to inputs. It's so sensitive that we goofed up the entry to the Climbing Esses a few times before settling in and getting it right. When you do get it right, the Miata will let you keep the throttle steady all the way through the uphill climb. Get it wrong and stray too far into the curbing, and the light and softly sprung Miata gets upset and requires some gathering up.
A few laps were botched by our left kneecap pressing into the stability-control on/off switch. Of the settings, we found DSC-Track to be as lenient as the rules at Grandma's house. It allows for plenty of freedom, such as a quick and controllable slide down the entry of Hog Pen.
A few corners before that, in the last long, sweeping, left-right corners of the Infield, the Miata engages in an amusing oversteer. Keeping the momentum is critical since the Miata can't make up much time with its engine, but the little two-seater happily obliges as it leans and bounces off from one curb to the next. The saying "Fun cars don't have to be fast" rings true.
Over nearly 10 years, the current generation, dubbed ND, has chipped away at lap times. In 2015, the first ND Miata we ran at Lightning Lap, with 155 horsepower on tap, posted a 3:20.8. When the ND2 added 26 horses, the retractable-hardtop RF model sliced off 3.6 seconds. And while power is unchanged in this updated ND3, its chassis tweaks have shaved another 1.6 seconds and moved it ahead on the leaderboard.
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