|
Price |
|
-- |
Production |
|
-- |
|
Engine |
1.8
liter inline-4 |
Weight |
below 2205 lbs |
|
Aspiration |
natural |
Torque |
-- |
|
HP |
124
hp |
HP/Weight |
17.8
lbs per hp |
|
HP/Liter |
68.9
hp per liter |
1/4 mile |
-- |
|
0-62 mph |
-- |
Top Speed |
-- |
(from Mazda Press
Release) MX-5 Superlight Version: Less is More
Inspiration
The world of automobiles
and individual mobility is changing towards energy efficiency,
environmental compatibility and uncompromised safety – along with
dynamic attributes and driving fun. In its efforts to offer pure
driving enjoyment, while meeting its ecological and social
responsibilities, Mazda has been focusing on weight reduction as a
core base technology. Reducing weight has always been a tradition
with the MX-5 since 20 years and it provided the inspiration for
Mazda’s latest show car providing a radical expression of the cult
roadster.
This year Mazda
celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first MX-5 roadster, which
laid the cornerstone for its Zoom-Zoom brand philosophy – reason
enough for our designers to create a fully-drivable show car, the
MX-5 Superlight version. There are no plans to build this car, but
it demonstrates how individual mobility can be maintained in a way
that uses fewer natural resources.
Mazda’s European R+D
centre in Oberursel has created a show car that represents the
essence of Mazda’s fun-to-drive aspect. Based on the brand icon
Mazda MX-5 Roadster, the MX-5 Superlight version is a pure,
uncompromising two-seat sports car meant to be affordable to just
about anyone. The main challenge for the design team in creating
this study was “to evolve the MX-5, developed to perfection during
the last 20 years, to a higher and extreme level,” says Project Lead
Designer Hasip Girgin. The result of their efforts is a
roadster show car with an exciting design that is especially
lightweight and distilled down to the very basics of sporty driving,
that still manages to provide modern safety technologies. In an
increasingly digitalized world, it creates a linear, direct bond
between man and machine. Its conceptual purity means even better
driving dynamics and fuel efficiency. It accomplishes this by
keeping the vehicle below the 1000 kg threshold, a weight that was
felt to be almost unattainable for a modern sports car until now. As
a study for lightweight construction
and driving enjoyment, the MX-5 Superlight version is the ideal
ambassador for Mazda’s brand values.
Exterior Design
“I’ve dreamed of
building a Mazda MX-5 with this kind of radical form for a long
time,” says Peter Birtwhistle, Mazda Motor Europe’s Chief
Designer, referring to the project. “Now that weight reduction
has become a dominant factor in automotive development, the time is
ripe for it. We show how lightweight a car today can be.”
His design team reduced
the MX-5 down to its core attributes to create a pure roadster.
Development of the production model MX-5 focussed on the bond
between driver and co-pilot to the roadster, the car’s driving
dynamics and its open-top experience. The goal of the MX-5
Superlight version concept was to strengthen these bonds even
further. By doing this without a windshield, the retractable top and
its frame, designers achieved an important step in this direction.
As the concept MX-5 Superlight version, the all-weather production
roadster has mutated into a driving machine that lets sports car
enthusiasts enjoy the natural surroundings unfiltered and tangible.
Not only does the wind blow unimpeded during driving, pilot and
co-pilot can also experience the sounds, smells and temperature
changes of their immediate surroundings. And finally, the show car’s
intense bond between the driver and the technology of the vehicle
gives it a unique closeness that can only be found in stronger form
in the cockpit of a race car.
Mazda designers created
special roll-over bars, not only because they are very
sporty-looking, but also to contribute to aerodynamic efficiency.
These also make it clear that roll-over protection is important in
this concept. And they prevent wind turbulence around the heads of
the passengers, from whom the law would require the wearing of
helmets while driving.
By removing equipment
not vital to driving, and by replacing vital things with components
that support the unique concept of the vehicle, designers sharpened
the character of the MX-5 Superlight version.
Because there is no
windshield, for instance, there is obviously no need for wipers.
The roadster show car’s completely open design makes the need for
outer door handles, side windows and their openers unnecessary. A
single, filigree aluminium, wide-angle mirror gives a good view of
the road behind. It’s placed inside an extension of the bonnet.
Front and rear lights are the same as those of the
production model with additional LED lamps at the front, and brake
lights at the back of each roll-over bar, which contribute to the
roadster’s sporty look.
The lack of a windshield
required an extension of the original aluminium bonnet into the
cabin. The attached sheet here is made of lightweight carbon fibre
and provides a hood for the dashboard frame. This also changed the
proportions of the body’s design, making the front of the car longer
and the passengers seem like they are sitting further back towards
the rear-drive axle, all of which is enhanced by the massive
roll-over bars and their aerodynamic cladding. The MX-5 Superlight
version translates the dramatic proportions of historical race cars
into a very modern form.
Interior Design
The purity in design of
the exterior also characterizes the interior design, which does not
have aesthetics as ultimate goal, but was conceived to contribute to
reducing vehicle weight. Driver and passenger of the MX-5 Superlight
version are greeted by racing bucket seats made of ultra-lightweight
carbon fibre. They are slide adjustable and upholstered with the
same saddle coloured leather as the armrests, the steering wheel,
and the lightweight aluminium shift lever and hand brake. Colour-coordinated
four-point seatbelts hold the driver and passenger firmly in their
seats.
The bonnet extension
into the passenger cell provides a canopy for the dashboard, which
makes the dashboard look smaller than the production MX-5. Made of
lightweight plastic reinforced with fibreglass, it contains the same
instruments as the production MX-5. These are held in place by a
dashboard frame made of lightweight carbon fibre. Like a purebred
race car, the MX-5 Superlight version has an ignition button in the
centre of the dashboard, along with two emergency kill buttons for
immediate fuel and electricity cut-off.
Supplying air and
climate control to the open passenger compartment is only possible
in limited form, so the show car has no air conditioning and no
fans. Air-flow is increased when the roadster accelerates, and only
small air vents are needed. The interior is made without any trim.
Sound insulation mats and rugs do not meet the requirements of a
purist concept like this and are not used at all.
Also made of
ultra-lightweight carbon fibre is the “floating-design” centre
console with iPod® adaptor and the triangular reinforcements in the
trimless doors. Driver and passenger can rest their arms here while
driving.
Driving Dynamics
The Mazda MX-5
Superlight version concept is fully-drivable, but there are no plans
to produce it in the near future. Under the bonnet is the cultivated
and frugal MZR 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine paired to the
production roadster’s five-speed manual transmission. It develops 93
kW/126 PS of maximum power at 6,500 rpm. For an appealing engine
sound, there’s a Mazdaspeed cold air intake made of polished and
powder-coated aluminium and a Mazdaspeed exhaust system, both of
them specific
to the MX-5 Superlight version. These systems deliver more intake
air-flow, and less exhaust-gas back pressure. The engine sound is
designed to suggest an engine with much higher displacement than the
concept actually has. During charge cycles, a high-resonance
bubbling sound in the muffler delivers the exciting sporty sound you
would expect from a very powerful engine.
The show car is designed
to provide improved driving dynamics as well, and uses a
four-piston, fixed-calliper brake system with perforated discs that,
because of their size required an increase in track of 50 mm. A
specially tuned chassis with a Bilstein® B16 coil-over suspension
and Eibach® stabilisers give the body of the MX-5 Superlight version
a ground clearance that is 30 mm lower than the production MX-5. Its
sporty hydraulic power-assisted rack and pinion steering system is
the same as
that of the regular roadster. Its linear steering, coupled to a
precise-shifting fivespeed manual transmission with short shift
travel, have contributed to the character of the world’s most
successful roadster for years. Also from the production model are
the roadster’s 205/45 R17 original-equipment tyres and alloy wheels
from the 2.0 version, which are some of the lightest on the market
today at less than 8 kg.
Building the Show Car
The task sounded
challenging and time was short. After the decision was made to
present a radical Mazda MX-5 Superlight version show car at the IAA
in 2009, Peter Birtwhistle had only three months to complete it. He
quickly formed a five-person team – including Hasip Girgin, Luca
Zollino, Nigel Ratcliffe, Maria Greger und Luciana Silvares – which
began by designing the cockpit.
There was not enough
time for small-scale modelling. The designers put their ideas to
paper, decided which were best, then modelled these directly onto a
full-scale clay model. The cockpit was created together with the
interior door braces. All components were then digitalized. This
data was sent to an external studio for prototype build, where the
parts of fibreglass-reinforced plastic and carbon fibre were
made and later fitted. This method was also used to create the
centre console with gear shift lever and hand brake.
Parallel to this, a
production MX-5 Roadster with an MZR 1.8-litre powertrain was
stripped of all components that would later be replaced. Under the
leadership of Mazda’s design team and chassis engineers, a drivable
“blank” of the MX-5 Superlight version was created that weighed well
under 1,000 kg, while respecting the original roadster’s ideal 50/50
weight distribution. Mazda test drivers then drove the roadster
around a closed track with experts from Bilstein® and Eibach®, in
order to ascertain the feasibility of the project. The results
amazed even the most experienced engineers: with hardly any
re-working, the “light” MX-5 version was an easy-to-control,
safe-driving roadster that displayed agility, great driving dynamics
and acoustical appeal.
Final assembly began
with painting the body in white colour, and simply polishing the
original MX-5 aluminium bonnet. Then the racing seats, steering
wheel, gear shift lever and hand brake were upholstered in leather
and installed in the show car. This was followed by the installation
of all previously-built carbon fibre components. And at the end,
Mazda designers installed the centre console, the dashboard and
instruments, seatbelts and roll-over bars.
Weight Saving Measures in Detail
Less is more! This was
the formal process that Mazda designers followed when building the
MX-5 Lightweight Version at Mazda R+D studios in Oberursel, Germany.
All components that were not absolutely required for driving were
put on the scales. Safety components were left untouched.
Weight savings, by either elimination or replacement, were
undertaken on the following components:
• Windshield with
frame and wipers
• Retractable soft top and folding frame
• Side windows including window openers
• Outer door handles and side mirrors
• Audio system
• Interior trim, rugs and sound insulation
• Production-model seats
• Air conditioning system, heat exchanger and ventilation system
• Dashboard frame
• Centre console
• Gear shift lever
• Hand brake lever
• Armrest between the seats
History of Mazda MX Concept Cars
The MX-5 has benefited
from different concept cars through its 20 years history. In 2000,
Mazda’s American design studio created the Miata Mono-Posto Concept
for the SEMA show. An earlier step in the direction of a more
radical MX-5 was taken by Mazdaspeed in Japan, which created the
Roadster MPS Concept in 2001. This idea was reinterpreted in 2004
with the Mazda Roadster Coupe TS Concept, which had a classic
Italian coupe shape based on the roadster.
And finally, in 2003 the
design study Mazda Ibuki was built that hinted at the third
generation MX-5, which was launched two years later. Not only did
Mazda Ibuki have extremely small overhangs and the more austere
design language of the later production model, it also anticipated
some major conceptual changes. For instance, the drive assembly of
the concept was positioned lower and further toward the middle of
the vehicle, for a lower centre of gravity and an equal weight
distribution over both axles. The production car that appeared later
would boast an ideal 50:50 weight distribution front and rear, and
deliver excellent handling attributes.
