With the upgrade package costing from £5994, is BBR's supercharged Mazda MX-5 (NC) worth the price?
The second impression is the rort from the twin rear pipes on start-up, and the zap of revs when you brush the throttle pedal. Actually, while the exhaust is stridently noisy under full load, it hushes down dramatically once you’re just cruising or ambling around on urban roads and I soon decide it is something I could live with.
The star attraction, though, is the engine, and here it’s all about the delivery. The Rotrex doesn’t alter the characteristics of the standard engine at all, it merely amplifies what the engine already has, to the tune of some 90bhp. That means there’s no spike of torque in the engine’s delivery as you’d get with one of BBR’s turbo conversions, but rather a linear rush of power.
Neil says the supercharged conversion is the pick of the bunch for trackday work, as the under-bonnet temperatures are much lower compared with BBR’s turbo cars. He also tells me he can get brand new 2.5-litre Duratec engines ‘at a price you wouldn’t believe’ and is working on a supercharged transplant with one of those that should net upwards of 400bhp without the need for any internal engine surgery. Sounds hilarious.