Latest Rocketeer Mazda MX-5 will best the Ferrari F40 on power-to-weight
Rocketeer’s been stuffing V6 engines into MX-5s for a few years now. Its operation is now expanding
Rocketeer, the company famous for swapping V6 engines into Mazda MX-5s, is moving to the next level. After a decade in business and 170 cars, new investors and extra funding has yieleded the creation of its most ambitious model yet – the Keiryo.
That’s the Japanese word for ‘lightweight’ and speaks to the priorities in this upcoming model. Rocketeer says it’s targeting a kerb weight of 850kg, with the 370bhp version of its fettled AJ30 aluminium-blocked Ford V6 that on its price list, costs £18,250 on its own. That means it has a power-to-weight ratio besting that of the Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Huracán and McLaren 620R – an MX-5 has never sounded more serious. The first car is in build, with a further nine examples of the new model available to order now.
> Rocketeer Mazda MX-5 V6 review – big engine and big character for Mazda's small roadster
On the flip side, Rocketeer is also working on a ‘Touring’ style build that leans more into a grand touring character – if anything more ambitious than extreme lightweighting in an MX-5. Work also continues on Rocketeer’s third-generation NC MX-5, with the first delivery expected next year.
Power and torque of c300bhp and 265lb ft means it matches a Porsche Cayman R for torque-per-ton. The NC is the future of Rocketeer, really. It’s newer, with a greater number of healthy examples out there, and it’s also getting cheaper than nice NBs and NAs.
Rocketeer’s offering spans two styles. Full-on ‘RestoMod’ specs, of which 12 have been delivered this year, span the mechanicals as well as visual enhancements, colour and material changes inside and out and is the category the new Keiryo and Touring models fall into. ‘Turnkey’ keeps the mechanical changes but limits visual changes to wheels, stance and badging. You can also buy Rocketeer kits and parts, to install yourself.
With a lack of truly lightweight, interactive, affordable sports cars with effervescent powertrains, not to mention the lack of restomods at prices any lower than £500,000 (even that lovely Encor Esprit is a half-mill), it sounds more than ever like Rocketeer is onto something special.
