Here’s what you want to hear: Mazda MX-5 with superbike engine roars to 13,000 rpm

Fireblad

Sit back and prick up your ears. YouTuber Reed Make Car decided to equip his second-generation Mazda MX-5 – or Miata, as it is called in America – with a 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine from a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. Not a big engine, then, but one that revs until you go deaf: the engine produces 180 horsepower and whines eagerly through to 13,000 rpm – almost double that of the original 1.8-liter Mazda block.

Light, raw and bizarrely fast

Because the Fireblade engine is a lot lighter than the standard block, this Miata weighs only 690 pounds. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a sequential gearbox, also taken from the motorcycle. On the roller dynamometer, Reed recorded 160 hp and 108 Nm – enough to tap 100 km/h as early as first gear.

That sounds good

But this project is not just about power, it’s mostly about sound: high-revving, sharp and with a mechanical clatter that pierces through the marrow. So quick: headphones on, video on, and treat your ears: